[Reader-list] 209 Kashmiri Pandits killed since 1989, say J-K cops in first report

Mon May 5 17:12:35 IST 2008

Before one sets out to contest the number of Kashmiri Pandits killed in
Kashmir since 1989,I would like to highlight the fact that except for one
conviction all others responsible for killing of Pandits are roaming
free.They have been freed on bail for want of credible proof that the State
Police has failed or did not want to produce in the court of law.The
terrorists who have been freed are notorious terrorists of yesteryears and
known offenders like Yasin Malik,Javaid Mir,Bitta Karate and others.Among
three of them alone they have killed more than 50 Kashmiri Pandits.When ND
Wani the designated TADA judge released Bitta Karate,he said and I quote" *"The
court is aware of the fact that the allegations levelled against the accused
are of serious nature and carry a punishment of death sentence or life
imprisonment but the fact is that the prosecution has shown total
disinterest in arguing the case, which is in complete violation of Article
21 of the Constitution."*
I am also amazed as to why the Police did not bring out a similar report for
Kashmiri Muslims also unless they want to widen the chasm between the two
communities.They should come out with a report about Muslims killed as well
not only because their numbers are far higher but because they too have
suffered and continue to do so much like their Pandit brethern.

*On one hand the government seems to woo Pandits back to the valley by
luring them with financial sops while on the other hands cases like the
Wandhama Massacre( in which 24 Pandit men,women and even four children were
killed by terrorists) have been closed by the government citing
un-traceability of the perpetrators of the crime. What credibility does the
report have one may ask?Who is going to believe the report submitted by a
force which has a pathetic record on account of its involvement in Pathribal
killngs(where it killed innocent civilians and claimed they had killed
killers of Sikhs massacred in Chattisinghpora) and a lot of other
incidents.More often that not the State Police has itself been on the wrong
side of the law. It has been complicit in crimes overtly or covertly by
either committing them or covering them.*

Panun Kashmir Movement's "Kashmir Documentation: Pandits In Exile" has a
list of 319 Kashmiri Hindu's killed in the *"period of 1989 to Oct.
1990".*Along with the name of the person in almost all cases it
mentions address of
the victim, his/her profession and the date of killing. In a period of less
than one year a community as small as Pandits lost 0.1% of its population
which forced them to flee. After October 1990(when less than ten thousand
Pandits were left in the valley) there have been seven massacres of Kashmiri
Pandits in which 62 Pandits were killed.

1. 21st March - Sangrampora (Budgam) - 7 People Killed

2. 15th June, 1997 - Gool (Udhampur) - 3 People Killed

3. 26th January, 1998 - Wandhama, (Srinagar) - 23 People Killed

4. 5th February, 2000 - Telwani (Anantnag) - 3 People Killed

5. 4th March, 2000 - Brariangan (Anantnag) - 1 Person Killed

6. 6th March, 2000 - Pethibug (Anantnag) - 1 Person Killed

7. 23rd March, 2003 - Nadimarg ( Pulwama) - 24 People Killed

Then there are of-course scores of Pandits who were killed in bomb
blasts,cross-fire,acts of violence and arson etc of whom  no one has any
account. Needless to say, immediatly after the forced exodus of Pandits in
1989-90; hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits got killed due to the after effects
this terrorism and migration to areas with immense heat; high temprature and
no resources. Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits fell victims of sudden death due
to hypertension, cancer, skin diseases, snake bites, scorpion bites. etc.

Even if one goes by a layman's account of Pandits killed in Kashmir since
1989 the number would be higher than 1000 but it isn't about mere
numbers.What is sad is that in all but one case no one has been convicted of
killing them?What is worse most of the dreaded terrorists like Yasin Malik
are invited by the government to hold parleys with them for peace.It is
cases like these which expose the government's will and the State
apparatus's honesty towards Pandit return to the valley.It also raises a
question mark on the judiciary and the human rights organizations who were
extremely pro-active in the case of Gujarat Riots but played a rather
passive witness to the plight of Pandits and injustice that the State
perpetrated on them.

It is time that the government that it sets up an impartial commission which
would go into the reasons of the issue of Pandit exodus so that before one
could diagnose a problem one would at-least know what the problem is.

Best Regards

Rashneek Kher

On 5/5/08, Wali Arifi <waliarifi3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> http://www.indianexpress.com/story/305457.html
>
> 209 Kashmiri Pandits killed since 1989, say J-K cops in first report
> Muzamil Jaleel
>
> SRINAGAR, MAY 4: In the first such report compiled since the outbreak of
> militancy in the Valley, a Jammu and Kashmir Police report says that 209
> Kashmiri Pandits were killed by militants since 1989. Chargesheets have
> been
> filed in 24 cases while killers in 115 cases remain unidentified or
> untraced.
>
>
>
> The police report — a copy of which is with The Indian Express — says that
> 140 cases of killing of Kashmiri Pandits by militants have been registered
> at police stations across the Valley.
>
>
>
> The police have booked 31 local militants for the killings in 24 cases in
> which the chargesheets have been filed. According to the report, three
> local
> militants involved in the killing of trade unionist and rights activist H
> N
> Wanchoo have been convicted. Wanchoo was killed on December 5, 1992 at
> Balgarden in
>
>
>
> Srinagar city. All other militants who have been chargesheeted are,
> however,
> out on bail.
>
>
>
> The investigation into the killing of retired judge Neel Kanth Ganju, who
> was killed on November 1,1989 at Hari Singh High Street in Srinagar, has
> been handed over to the CBI.
>
>
>
> According to this police report, the first case of murder of a Kashmiri
> Pandit was of a woman, Prabhavati from Nawagari, Chadoora in Budgam
> district. According to police records, Prabhavati was killed at Hari Singh
> High Street on March 14, 1989. Her killers remained untraced.
>
>
>
> Of the 209 Kashmiri Pandits killed, 109 died in 1990.
>
>
>
> The killings of Kashmiri Pandits include the massacres at Sangrampora,
> Wandhama and Nadimarg — seven were killed during the night of March 21-22,
> 1997 at Sangrampora village in Budgam, 23 were killed in Wandhama on
> January
> 25, 1998 and 24 died in Nadimarg on March 24, 2003.
>
>
>
> According to the police report, perpetrators of the Wandhama massacre are
> still untraced. But the police has identified Pakistani militants Abu
> Haris
> and Abu Khalid as those who carried out the Sangrampora killings. Both
> militants were killed in an encounter at Hewader on March 24, 1997. The
> police has challaned the Nadimarg massacre case, identifying Zai Mustafa
> alias Abdullah of Rawalakot, Pakistan as the perpetrator.
>
>
>
> The report reveals that the majority of Kashmiri Pandits were killed in
> Srinagar city — 82 people died since 1989. Twenty eight Kashmiri Pandits
> were killed in Ganderbal, 11 in Baramulla, 28 in Pulwama, four in Kupwara,
> 16 in Budgam, 17 in Kulgam, three in Awantipora, 16 in Anantnag and four
> in
> Handwara.
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-- 
Rashneek Kher
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com