[Reader-list] Massacres - Contd.

[Pawan Durani]

August 16-September 15, 2000

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Terrorists massacre Amarnath yatris

KS Correspondent reports

The Holy Cave of Lord Amarnath, the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi,
historic temple of Sharada (now in PoK) and Martand temple are four
places, which have sub-continental importance. The pilgrimages to
these places foster strong sense of cultural unity among the regional
Hindu communities of the Indian sub-continent. The refusal of the
sectarian rulers of Pakistan to allow Hindu Jathas to the Sharada
temple in Neelam valley has in no way declined its importance,
particularly for the 50 lakh strong Sarsawat Brahmin community of
India, of which Kashmiri Hindus form an integral part.

During the last ten years of militancy raging in Kashmir, the number
of pilgrims visiting cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi has gone up
seven fold. In the case of Amarnath, every year the number of yatris
goes on increasing. In early fifties not more than six thousand people
visited the holy cave of Lord Amarnath. This year despite disruption,
nearly one lakh and eighty thousand people from the different corners
of India braved the tough terrain and terrorist threats to accomplish
the pilgrimage.Today, in view of the frequent `bans' on the yatra by
theKashmiri separatist outfits, the nation looked to success of this
yatra as an indicator of national resolve.

For the mismanagement of the yatra this year, neither the State
government nor the Central government can escape the blame. Symbolic
assertions of the nation-state are crucial to the security of the
nation. Safe conduct of the yatra cannot be delinked from this. The
yatra also provides good economic revenue to the people of the Kashmir
valley.

Despite warning signals, mismanagement and complacency were seen all
through the yatra. The J&K government's own Tourist departmentwas
claiming, at the beginning of the yatra, that the figure could go past
2-5 lakh mark. Why it did not make commensurate arrangements? Its job
does not end with high-profile ads in national dailies.Unlike previous
years the security job of the yatra was not given to Army but to J&K
Police. Reports even claim that the State government had turned down
Union Home Minister's suggestion that army be deployed on entire route
of yatra. This despite the warning that terrorists planned to attack
yatra. Even as early as May 25, the `Pioneer' had carried a detailed
review of the securitythreat to the yatra. It had reported that there
was heavy concentration of foreign mercenaries and Pakistani regulars
on the outflanks of the 48-km long mountainous track of yatra. The
daily wrote, "due to the concentration of the militants in this area,
the threat has increased manifold.. The security agencies anticipate a
number of encounters
with the militant groups".

The government had even radio intercepts speaking about possible
attacks on soft targets. Yatra was on top of their agenda. On
different occasions earlier as well, militants had made determined
moves to disrupt it. There was every apprehension that in view of Pak
bid to sabotage the `ceasefire', yatra was obviously a softtarget.
Inspite of this, Army this year was not deployed in sufficient
strength, nor the security beefed up. Only two days earlier on July
30, a Tata Sumo vehicle carrying tourists to Gulmarg was attacked by a
13 years old boy hired by militants. Why did it not still alert the
security forces or the State government.

Attack in Jammu:

On the morning of August 1, an alert constable Krishan Lal averted
what could have been a major tragedy overtaking the yatris in Jammu.
As per reports, three militants with affiliation to pan-Islamic
Lashkar-e-Toiba came to attack yatris at the registration counter,
housed inside the premises of Govt Hari Singh High School near Maheshi
Gate. There were varying versions of the incident. One version said
the three militants had come to the school from nearby Christian
Colony at about 12-05 PM. When they were outside the school's boundary
wall, they put on monkey caps to concealidentity.
On being spotted by one of the pilgrims, who raised alarm, the
militants opened fire and began moving towards the school premises.
Boundary wall served as good protective cover for the pilgrims.Before
the militants could enter the school premises, constable Krishan Lal
shot one of them dead. A few other policemen and jawans of CRPF also
retaliated but could not nab the other two militants. However they
managed to put yatris inside the classrooms in safety. Meanwhile one
of the militants, as per a report, hurled a grenade on the security
personnel, but it missed the target. The same report said that the
militants were imploring the police and CRPF jawans to hand over the
pilgrims to them.

The slain militant, suspected by the police to be a Kashmiri, carried
an identity card of Abid Hussain Malik, reading in Aligarh Muslim
University and resident of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. An AK-47 rifle was
recovered from him.

Massacre at Pahalagam:

What happened six hours later at Pahalgam drew international attention
to the sadist violence, indulged in by the"mujahids" against the
innocent people. Reporting in contemporary Kashmir has got messed up
in multiple versions of the same incident. That makes objectivity an
obvious casualty.Mr Ahmed Ali Fayaz (Daily Excelsior) wrote, "Deputy
Commissioner GA Pir insists they were foreigners. A policeman on duty
claims that one was from a Pahalgam village and another from Anantnag.
But, one thing is common among the eye-witnesses that the two bearded
killers of 22 Amarnath pilgrims, 6 local civilians and 2 policemen,
danced triumphantly while choosing death for themselves too".
"Thereheight was moderate and complexion wheatish as is the case with
the Kashmiris", a report quoted a police officer saying this. Fake
identity cards and the new recruitment drive by LeT and
Jaish-e-Mohammedi outfits involving local youth in the age group of
13-16 years, for dare-devil acts is a new feature of the proxy-war in
Kashmir.

The same report in `Excelsior' says, "It was literally amacabre dance.
Two youngsters-sporting beard, wearing olive green jackets and
brandishing AK-47 rifles-emerged out of the jungle at around 1845
hours on Tuesday evening and began the massacre of pilgrims from a
wooden culvert, called Manzim Bridge. The stream beneath, often seen
in Bollywood movies of Rajesh Khanna, Asha Parekh period, was in
spate. They spreayed bullets in all directions, stormed into a Meerut
Langar, and finally took position on a metalled road on the left bank
of nullah Aru. After leaving a total of 30 dead and over 60 others
wounded, the assailants tossed seven grenades on the beautiful hutment
of Hari Singh, the commanding officer of CRPF 61 Bn."

Another report said that as the militants reached the bridge, they
opened indiscriminate fire, hitting a woman in the leg. Then they ran
towards the CRPF picket, firing indiscriminately at yatris and
shopkeepers. In this torrential rain of bullets that lasted for about
25 minutes, thirteen yatris and shopkeepers were killed on the spot.
The next destination of militants was the adjoining Meerut Bhandar,
where 900 yatris from Meerut were camping. Two grenades were tossed at
a tent, killing one yatri and injuring four others. As militants
approached the camp, a BSF constable opened fire and scared them away.
Militants were running and firing towards the camp on both sides of
the road. A man, hit by a bullet on the bridge fell down into the
Lidder stream flowing below.

The grenades tossed at the CRPF bullet damaged a car by standing
there. Meanwhile CO was contacted at his office but he failed to reach
the spot due to heavy gunfire at his home. Sentry SC Choudhary engaged
the militants and in the fierce encounter that followed, he felled
down one, who had hid behind a car and a massive rock. The other
militant, 100 yards away on the Aru road was gunned by a BSF soldier.
"Calm prevailed but only after the duo danced whilecrying that they
had accomplished their mission".
Prem Lata, a teacher from Ludhiana who saw the militants, wearing
police uniform and firing indiscriminately alleged that the militants
were selectively killing pilgrims only. She took cover in her bus, the
wind screen of which was damaged as the killers emptied their volley
of bullets. Baba Naresh of Gujrat, another eyewitness claimed
militants killed a baba after entering his tent.Ravinder Kumar of
Haryana said near Meerut langar, where militants brandished their
concealed weapons, a barber and his customers were the first targets.
"A broken mirror, a blood drenched cap and the splattered blood on the
spot gave the idea of their act". Firingon the moving pilgrims, they
moved towards the small bridge. After crossing it, they entered the
area where the langar and tents were set up. There a heavy exchange of
fire took place between the militants and security forces, leading to
the killing of some pilgrims and local labourers in the cross-firing.
However, the militants managed to escape from the area.
Poonam Goyal from Meerut received three bullets in her leg and
abdomen. Both her daughter and husband were injured, while her missing
son was presumably dead. Arvind Kumar Verma had multiple fractures in
his left leg.
Arun Kumar of Delhi, who ran a langar said the militants held AK-47
rifles and one of them even changed his magazine while killing yatris.
Kuldeep Kumar, driver of a bus damaged in the firing was hit by a
bullet in the leg. He said that one of the militants firing from under
the bus finally came out and was killed by a CRPF jawan. Around four
thousand yatris were camping in Pahalgam at the time of attack.Ram
Sahgal, a pilgrim from Delhi said the militants, as they engaged in
indiscriminate firing roamed freely in a radius of about half a
km.Bharat Sharma, a travel agency owner of Agra, told reporters that
"the militants began firing from a hill top and also from underneath a
bus". One of the Sikh sewadars was hit by a burst of automatic fire
standing besides him collapsed in a pool of blood.

Eyewitnesses said that prompt response by paramilitary personnel
killed two militants, while another escaped in a Maruti van. He was
also wearing police uniform. Another version claimed two militants
were held captive by the Army.

As the bullets rained all around, people scrambled under the parked
vehicles or took shelter under the trees along the Lidder bank. CRPF
personnel were seen advising yatris to remain calm. Many others
managed to escape in the waiting vehicles. A large number of vehicles,
including cars and buses, also showed marks of the indiscriminate
firing. While many glass panes stood broken, tyres were punctured due
to the impact of bullets. The bodies of the pilgrims and other
civilians were removed by security forces men and pilgrims during the
night itself while the "unclaimed bodies" of the militants were kept
at the police station.

The survivors with nightmarish experiences recalled the good job done
by Srinagar doctors and Army, BSF and CRPF. They were bitter against
JKP and said the state police looked the other way when militants
struck.

The Hindu, quoted a pilgrim as saying, "after the massacre, their
personnel prevented us from helping the injured and taking them to
hospital. Instead of helping the victims, they kept saying, "Ifyou
come for the yatra, you'll meet this fate". A senior officerof CRPF
claimed that militants had hurled five grenades, used 19 magazines and
fired 570 rounds of AK fire and 57 live bullets were recovered from
the slain terrorists. Meanwhile, a three-member committee headed by
Corps Commander of the Srinagar-based 15 corps, JR Mukherjee has been
appointed to probe the Pahalgam killings. The other members of the
committee include Messers C Phunsung, Home Secretary and GA Peer,
Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag.



Source: Kashmir Sentinel