GAW KADAL MASSACRE “JANUARY 19,
1990″ IN ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR ALSO KNOWN AS
INTERNATIONALLY DISPUTED AREAS OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR (IDA:JK)
Gaw
Kadal Massacre “January 19, 1990″
By:
Ehsaan Qazi
Jagmohan
was appointed on January 19, 1990. That night, in response to the kidnapping of
Rubaiya Sayeed and other militant attacks, Indian security forces conducted
warrantless and thus illegal house-to-house searches in Srinagar, hunting for
illegal weapons or other evidence of support to the militants. They dragged
many people out of their beds into the bitter cold. Many Kashmiris complained
that they were beaten and abused.Jagmohan maintains that he had nothing to do
with the decision.
The next morning, as word of the searches and beatings began
to spread, people began to pour out into the streets of Srinagar. From the
mosques, loudspeakers urged Kashmiris to come out and fight for azaadi, or
freedom. Thousands of Kashmiris gathered to protest the actions of the security
forces.
The
state government declared a curfew, but few if any Kashmiris observed it.It was
early evening when one group of marchers reached the Gaw Kadal Bridge on
Srinagar’s Jhelum River. They were shouting slogans and some were pelting the
soldiers with stones. Troops from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
opened fire into the crowd. Eyewitnesses say the shooting was a brutal and
excessive use of lethal force against demonstrators. Many demonstrators were
shot from behind as they turned to run away. Kashmiri news photographer
Meraj-ud-din described the scene:
“When I reached Gaw Kadal, all I could see
were the dead. I saw bodies of children, bodies of women, bodies of men…. Later
they brought the bodies to the police compound. I saw them again. There I
cried. I shouted, screamed. ‘Don’t do this to the people.’ That day I saw
everything.”
Human Rights Watch, in its 1991 report on the shootings,
criticized the killings and concluded that the use of lethal force was not
proportional to the threat.
At least thirty-five people died. Many estimates put the
toll near one hundred. Until then, this was the highest number of persons
killed on a single day since the violence erupted in Jammu and Kashmir.The
killings drew international attention. The London based daily,the Independent,
carried an interview with one of the survivors, a thirty-eight-year-old
mechanical engineer called Farooq Ahmad, who worked for the government:
“I was just standing watching the
procession of Muslims demonstrating against India. It was curfew time and there
were CRPF on both sides of the lane. They should have given a warning, telling
people to go back to their rooms. But there was no warning, so people thought
the procession was allowed. Then there were two shots in the air, and more
shots, shots and shots – people were falling down. I also fell down. Someone
pushed me down. The CRPF took control of the area. There were a lot of dead and
injured. But I was safe, no bullet. Then came somebody, they said I was still
alive, and that fellow, an officer, came with a Bren gun, a light machine gun.
He aimed at me and started firing.”
Farooq Ahmad
survived. But few in Jammu and Kashmir have forgotten that incident. Human
Rights Watch recently met with an eyewitness who recalled the events at Gaw
Kadal.
“I remember that scene perfectly.
There were so many people. I remember thinking that all of Srinagar must be out
on the streets. They were shouting slogans and calling for freedom. There was a
CRPF bunker just near the bridge. Suddenly the soldiers opened fire. It was
machine-gun fire and all I could hear is the rat-a-tat sound. At that time, we
were not used to the sound of firing like we are today. I think everyone was
shocked. No one had expected the troops to start firing. Soon, there were
people falling down all over the place. I remember the man standing next to me
saying, ‘I know I have been shot but I can’t feel anything.’ I looked at him.
And then I saw his foot. There was a bullet stuck inside his shoe… All around
people were groaning with pain. Everyone that could ran away. I stayed where I
was in case they fired at me. I stood there for many hours. Finally, the police
brought trucks and started taking the dead and wounded away. But they had been
lying there for many hours before the trucks came. I remember that there were
dogs sniffing at the bodies. I will never forget one sight. I saw a dog eating
a human arm.”
The shooting at Gaw Kadal Bridge and the way the Indian
government responded may have been the turning point in the rebellion. As Human
Rights Watch said in a May 1991 report, “In the weeks that followed as security
forces fired on crowds of marchers and as militants intensified their attacks
against the police and those suspected of aiding them, Kashmir’s civil war
began in earnest”.Almost every day there were protests. Teachers, students, and
government employees came out into the streets shouting slogans. At the same
time, there were increased attacks from militants, now with a religious
dimension. Hindu Kashmiris, called pandits, came under attack. Many were
abducted or killed. Many received anonymous notes that were threatening and
abusive.Thousands of pandits began to flee the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley,
relocating to squalid camps in Jammu and Delhi. At least three hundred thousand
Kashmiri Hindus still remain displaced.
The
state administration, led by Jagmohan, sought to end the militancy and the mass
protests through the increased use of force. Government forces fired live
ammunition on crowds of unarmed demonstrators. Round-the-clock curfews were
imposed for days in major towns to prevent protests.Paramilitary troops
conducted large-scale searches, called “crackdowns” in Jammu and Kashmir.
Residents were forced to gather outside while troops ransacked their
belongings, looking for hidden weapons. Informers, in hoods, identified alleged
militants to be taken into custody, who were then often tortured and sometimes
killed.
No known action was taken against any CRPF officials who ordered their
forces to open fire at Gaw Kadal, or against the officers present during the
shooting. No public inquiry was ordered into the incident. The police did file
complaints against demonstrators who pelted stones at security forces, but they
were not investigated. Without an investigation into what exactly happened in
Gaw Kadal, there will be no chance of holding those responsible accountable.
The consequences of Gawkadal and the failure to hold the
security forces accountable have been far reaching. Many young Kashmiris began
to join the militants, whose popularity shot up. One man told Human Rights
Watch that he and other parents watched helplessly as their sons enlisted with
the militants: “Boys, as young as fourteen or fifteen, crossed the border and
came back with guns. No one could stop them.”
“Gaw
Kadal remains an emotional and sentimental subject for Kashmiris even today
Posted
by
Parmjit
Singh Sekhon (Dakha)
President
Dal Khalsa Alliance
Hindus-Brahmins-Terrorism
in India,
INDIAN
Hindus-Brahmins-TERRORIST,
AND
INDIA TERRORIST COUNTRY
***********************************
IT
IS TIME TO DECLARE
INDIA
AS A TERRORIST COUNTRY
No comments:
Post a Comment