Pandits to remember Nadimarg victims on 14th anniversary

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 22

On its 14th anniversary, displaced Kashmiri Pandits will remember the victims of the Nadimarg massacre tomorrow. As many as 24 Hindus were killed by militants in remote village of Nadimarg in south Kashmir’s Shopian district (then Pulwama) in 2003.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) today reiterated its demand for a ‘Truth and Justice Commission’ to probe the Nadimarg massacre and other similar incidents that took place after the eruption of militancy more than 27 years ago.

“We demand that a Truth and Justice Commission be formed which will be authorised to look into all incidents which took place in the state in the past 27 years and book the culprits so that justice is done to the people who were killed by the state/non-state actors,” KPSS president Sanjay Tikku said in a statement

According to eyewitness accounts gathered by Pandit human rights activists, on a relatively cold spring night 14 years ago, militants wearing police uniforms had cordoned off a minority enclave in the picturesque village, 75 km from Srinagar, asked the families to come out, made them squat and shot them dead. It was the fifth in the series of organised massacres of Hindus since militancy erupted in the Valley in 1989.

The Nadimarg victims ranged from Suraj (4) to Devika (70), who were killed in execution-style operation by the militants, forcing remaining Pandits to flee their homeland.

The community is, however, still waiting to see a single prosecution or the outcome of the investigation promised by the successive governments.

“We have evidence that many people involved in killings or those who acted as collaborators in killings are still alive and are working as traders, government servants and farmers. The police have never carried out investigation properly,” claimed Sanjay Tikku.

A decade ago, the KPSS had demanded copies of the FIRs and investigation reports but there was no response from the state Home Department. The department had said that the massacres were carried out by foreign militants.

Tikku, who had prepared a detailed report on the killings of Pandits, alleges that even in the Nadimarg incident, gunmen along with local youths had visited the village on March 21-22, 2003, to identify Pandit families. They were guided by local youth working as overground workers of militants, but the police never identified or took action against them, he said.

Despite the National Human Rights Commission and the United Nations expressing concern over the killings of Pandits, no one has been prosecuted for the killings of the community members in the past two decades.

“There has been a policy of denial by both Central and state governments over the exodus of Pandits and the role of terror groups and separatists in the process. We don’t expect justice as J&K does not have an anti-terrorist law. Our demand for judicial probe has not been taken seriously,” said Ajay Chrangoo, chairman, Panun Kashmir.