Ahead of Trump visit, ‘fear’ grips Sikhs in Kashmir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 22

Two decades after the massacre of 36 members in Chattisinghpora village of south Kashmir, the Sikh community in the Valley has been gripped by fear psychosis ahead of US President Donald Trump’s two-day India visit beginning on Monday.

The killing of 36 members of the Sikh community had taken place in Chattisinghpora village of Anantnag district by unidentified militants wearing Army fatigues on March 20, 2000, when then US President Bill Clinton was on the India visit.

The community, which stayed put in the Valley after exodus of Kashmiri Pandits with the eruption of armed militancy in Kashmir, feel that Trump’s forthcoming visit had led to “fear psychosis and panic” among its members, according to a Sikh body. The All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has said, “The visit of a high-profile foreign personality, especially from the USA, leads to fear psychosis and panic among Sikhs living in the Kashmir valley.”

“The whole India seems to be busy in making preparations for Trump’s visit, but for Sikhs of Kashmir the visit has brought with it fears that the members of the community are yet again on the radar. The Sikhs are feeling insecure and they fear that something untoward might happen on the eve of the US President’s visit,” Jagmohan Singh Raina, chairman, APSCC, stated here today.

He said the scars inflicted on Sikhs of Kashmir during Bill Clinton’s visit were yet to be removed. He said till date the people who carried out the crime 20 years ago had not been identified.

The Sikh leader lamented that the Central and state governments had failed to reach any conclusion with respect to identity of the killers.