Sikh body seeks fresh probe in Chhattisinghpora massacre

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 19

The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has urged the state and Central governments to nab the culprits of Chattisinghpora massacre in which 35 members of the minority community were shot dead by unidentified militants on March 20 in 2000.

The APSCC has also urged the government to conduct fresh probe into the killings so that culprits are nabbed and justice is provided to the families of the victims. “The Centre has blamed these murders on separatist militants and also claimed killing five of the men who carried out the massacre. But it is yet to present hard evidence backing up its claims,” APSCC chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said.

Raina urged the government to mark fresh probe into the incident and allow the Justice SR Pandian Commission to further investigate the incident as Brakpora and Chattisinghpora case that followed were interlinked.

The APSCC chairman said according to the police, nearly 20 militants carried out the massacre at Chattisinghpora in Anantnag district of south Kashmir and so far only five had been caught and killed which was later on proved wrong. “The killed persons, whom the police claimed to be militants, were actually innocent residents of Brakpora proved by the judicial enquiry of Justice Pandian Commission,” he said. He added that the bodies of these five persons were hastily buried in a nearby village.

At the time of the massacre, then US President Bill Clinton, who was on his India visit, also expressed grief on the killings and urged the government to nab the culprits, the APSCC leader said.

He added that then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had also “assured that the culprits would soon be arrested…. But till date nothing has been done,” Raina said.