[Reader-list] Massacres - contd

[Pawan Durani]

Rajouri wakes upto another death dance

KS Correspondent
RAJOURI, Aug 18, 1998:
Within a fortnight, the terrorists attacked the minority community
once again. This time in Rajouri. Kot Dharra, just eight kms from the
district headquarter of Rajouri has remained under terrorist seige
during the past three years. In the six attacks so far, the villagers
have often been falling victim to the militants’ bullets.
Eyewitness accounts said a group of at least three militants, which
included some locals as well entered the village around afternoon on
August 17. The militants were sighted by a local in the house of her
neighbour Haji Jehangir, enjoying lunch. Initially militants wanted to
kill this local, but the intervention of Jehangir’s wife earned her
reprieve. She was instead locked in one of the rooms.
At around 6-45 PM, militants went out to prey for their victims. First
they forced their entry into the house of Manohar Lal. He and his
relatives Bishamber and Purshottam Kumar were killed. The two,
relatives who were brothers-in-law of Lal’s daughter had come from
Kalakot to attend dinner.
Reports said, while mercenaries kept watch at the nearby CRPF picket,
the local militants engaged themselves in the carnage. The militants
began firing at the houses of the minority community indiscriminately.
After hearing the gun shot, some of the civilians fled from the houses
but were chased out and shot dead by militants. Vishwanath, was shot
dead in his fields. His son Ashok Kumar was killed inside the house.
Suraj Prakash and Seema, the two other children of Vishwanath
sustained serious bullet injuries.
Chander Prakash, another villager managed to escape to the fields. His
wife Chamba Devi, daughter Sakhi and son Suhail were fired upon by the
militants beneath the beds of their houses, where they had taken
shelter. They were subsequently shifted to the Army hospital.
Poonam Devi, after serving tea to her husband had gone to the
adjoining playfield of school to collect her two children, Arun and
Sakshi. The militants fired indiscriminately on them. The condition of
her four-year old son, Arun continues to remain critical.
The personnel manning the nearby CRPF picket, erected a few months
back, looked the other way, even as militants continued to target
people for fifteen minutes. The villagers are bitter that CRPF men
remained in hiding inside their bunker and came out only next day
morning "just to recover the bodies". Did the State government ever
ponder, why Kashmiri Pandits have only contempt for its so-called
‘Action Plans’ on return and ‘Rs 2600 crore Package’. The day it does
so, massacres at Kot Dhara and other places will not recur. True, the
leaders of Congress and state BJP have used harshest possible
expressions to condemn the massacre and the State government. Did they
ever ask what their central leaders manning the Home Ministry did to
prempt the many massacres and ensure permanent deterrence against
ethnic-cleansing.

Source: Kashmir Sentinel