LIFE OF A MASSACRE

On the surface Chattisinghpora is like any other of the thousands of Kashmiri villages, nestled in the Himalayan surroundings. But a few minutes into conversations with the villagers here, one is engulfed with living tragedy and grief. This village is distinguished by a Samadhi, a memorial to the 35 villagers, members of the Sikh community who were brutally gunned down by ‘unknown’ armed men 12 years ago late night on March 20. The Samadhi reminds the villagers, every day of their life, of that horrible night when they witnessed a ‘river of blood’ flowing down the village dirt tracks. The massacre grabbed global headlines as it was carried out while Bill Clinton;the then US president was on an official visit to India. Chattisinghpora has lived under constant trauma ever since. Those left behind, the families of the victims, as of course their Muslim neighbours, feel that they may never get justice as the perpetrators remain unidentified.

Neelam Kour, a mother of two has brought up her kids all by herself. The children, daughter (14) and son (12) don’t know anything about the night of March20, 2000 in which their father and other three other family members were killed. They think their father works in Army, posted far away and he doesn’t get leave to see his family.

The husband of Neelam had his electrical business and that fateful night while coming back from his shop he was stopped by the ‘men in uniform’ who had already cordoned off the whole area. In some time he was fired upon along with his younger brother, two uncles and 12 others– all residents of Showkeen Mohalla. Neelam recalls, “We got so scared when those uniformed men with covered faces were running in our lanes. Myself, my 18-months-old daughter and my mother-in-law were all alone in the house. We were so frightened that we couldn’t even once see what was happening outside. All we could do was to hear the noise coming from outside.”

Since Neelam’s house is beside the Gurdwara in Showkeen Mohalla she was able to hear the guns being fired including that initial shot fired in the air “may be to give signal to the other murderers who were waiting in another Gurdwara, Gurdwara Singh Saba Samadari Bagh where 18 more were killed and later one injured succumbed to his injuries”. more