Kashmiri Pandits perform ‘maha sharad’ to mark Wandhama massacre
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, January 24
A ‘maha sharad’ was performed on the eve of the Wandhama massacre anniversary today. The Kashmiri Pandits urged the international community to take a moral stand on the killings of its community members on the occasion.
United Kashmiriyat Front chairman Bharat Raina said the ‘maha sharad’ was performed at Priyagaraj and Shadipora in Ganderbal district for the Pandits killed by militants during the Wandhama massacre in 1998.
Recalling the dreadful incident, Raina said, “It was on the intervening night of January 24 and 25, 1998, that around 12 to 15 militants descended on Wandhama village in Ganderbal district and lined up Kashmiri Pandits to shoot and kill 23 of them which included 10 men, nine women and four children. Even infants were not spared.”
The front appealed to all international bodies “who seek resolution to the Kashmir issue, to take a moral stand on the Pandit killings and seek to bring the perpetuators of the massacre of the Pandits to book”.
Raina demanded that a thorough probe be conducted into the killings of hapless Pandits. He said punishing the culprits would be the real tribute to these martyrs. The front said neither successive governments nor any civil society or human rights’ fora of the Valley took up these issues as they had done for Muslim killings. “As per official figures, 110 FIRs have been filed in different police stations regarding killing of 219 Kashmiri Pandits. Till date, leave aside bringing them to book, not a single killer has been arrested,” a statement by the organisation said.
