The stellar efforts being made by the 'We want probe into Chittisinghpora Massacre', facebook group and the All India Sikh Students Federation to bring the culprits of the murky and suspicious Chittisinghpora Massacre to book are commendable. Both groups held a march yesterday, June 27, which culminated into prayers and pledges at the Akal Takht. The press note is appended below.
All India Sikh Students Federation (Bhoma) and an internet Facebook group ‘We want probe into Chittisinghpora Massacre (WWPCM)’ held a march here which culminated into prayers and pledges at the Sikh holy seat Akal Takhat Sahib. They demanded immediate probe into Chittisinghpora Massacre where 35 innocent Sikhs were killed on March 20, 2000. Led by Manjit Singh Bhoma President of AISSF and Bhabishan Singh Goraya WWPCM they demanded, “If death to Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru why not gallows for killers of Chittisinghpora?” They said democratic countries can’t afford to evade delivery of justice and that people seldom forget genocides. They said memories of Delhi massacre of Sikhs and Union Carbide Gas Tragedy of Bhopal were as fresh as they were in 1984. They demanded that Supreme Court should create some permanent mechanism to monitor and review investigations in cases of genocides so that the governments are not able to evade justice. The agitating Sikhs here vowed not to rest until the Chittisinghpora killers are brought to book.
The agitators were holding placards with slogans such as, “Bill Clinton never come India again: The innocent Sikhs will be slain” and “Says Farooq I was under pressure; Don’t launch probe into massacre” and the photographs of the ghastly massacre scene.
Chittisinghpora is a village in Kashmir where 35 innocent Sikh villagers were massacred by unidentified gunmen who came in army uniform. This occurred 3 days before the arrival of Bill Clinton, President USA, into India. The BJP Govt had then blamed that it was the handiwork of cross border terrorism. Sikhs had accordingly lodged a fierce protest in front of Pakistan High Commission. Bill Clington had however commented that killers were “Hindu militants” and that “35 Sikhs would not have been killed if I had not visited India”.
On March 25, the security forces killed five people in what is called ‘Pathribal Encounter’ and claimed that they have eliminated foreign terrorists responsible for Chittisinghpora. The people of area however, launched an intense agitation claiming that the army had killed innocent local Muslims at the ‘Pathribal Encounter’ to hide the real killers of Chittisinghpora. The Govt had to yield to the popular demand and investigation was launched. The commission of enquiry found that the army version was fraud and in fact local civilians were eliminated in a false encounter. The CBI thus recorded as under:-
“Investigation has, established that it was not a genuine encounter. Col. Ajay Saxena, Commanding Officer of 7 RR (now Brigadier), Major B.P. Singh (Now Lt. Col.), Major Sourabh Sharma, Subedar Idrees Khan and Other troops of 7 RR entered into a criminal conspiracy during 21.3.2000 and 25.3.2000 to abduct some persons and kill them in a fake encounter and project that the militants responsible for the Chittisinghpora massacre.have been killed.”
The agitating leaders today demanded that Govt should now make it clear what punishment has been awarded to the army officers when it has been amply proved that it was a false encounter. “The relief is,” commented Bhoma, “that at least something has been done for those 5 Muslims but regretted nothing for the 35 victims of Chittisinhghpora.” They said Govt’s non-action or indifference creates doubts as absolutely nothing has been done on investigation front despite it being more than 10 years now. They opined that in fact the culprit officers of Pathribal False Encounter knew who were the killers of Chittisinghpora and to shield the killers the officers stage-managed an encounter and eliminated five law abiding civilians.
The agitating leaders said that the recent statement of Farooq Abdullah (The then Chief Minister of Indian Kashmir) that “he was ready to launch probe into Chattisinghpora massacre but ‘Some powers’ pressurized him not to do so, in fact reveals many a skeleton in the cupboard of then BJP Govt. Goraya alleged that all this shows this was done by Indian agencies to create communal hatred among Kashmiri people especially Sikhs and Muslims. This crime could never be condoned off by civilized society of secular Republic of India. They alleged if the BJP Govt’s slate is clear why it didn’t get the massacre probed. They alleged that the Govt’s allegation that it was Pakistan that carried out massacre was just an attempt to befool the Indian masses and international community. They regretted that the successive Congress Govt has also shown indifference to this issue especially when a Sikh is a Prime Minister of the country.
All the leaders said with one voice that it was in the larger interest of India that it brings to book the culprits so that people do not loose faith in the administration of justice and don’t develop a sense of alienation. Sikhs are a microscopic minority in Kashmir (only 70,000).
The agitators regretted that whosoever killed in Chittisinghpora, be it Pakistan or India, it was clear that massacre was carried out to gain an international diplomatic point in view of President Clinton’s visit. They said they had seen no parallels in history where the Govts themselves kill their own innocent citizens. The leaders questioned whether ‘medieval times were more humane or the present societies more civilized'? They said the Govt owes an explanation why no action was taken at all in the last 10 years.