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Rising Kashmir News
Anantnag, Mar 19: Awaiting justice for the last 16 years, Sikh bodies and victim families Saturday demanded the Chattisinghpora massacre, the Pathribal fake encounter and Brakpora killings should be probed afresh as related incidents and not in isolation.

President of All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC), Jagmohan Raina, talking to Rising Kashmir questioned the motives behind probing and initiating court proceedings into Pathribal fake encounter in isolation.

“Chattisinghpora massacre, the Pathribal fake encounter and the Brakpora killings were related incidents and a probe for only one of them will lead us nowhere,” Raina said, “There should be a fresh probe in all three incidents.”

He said the victim families have, in absence of a proper investigation, been free to look anybody and everybody with suspicion. “But the reluctance of government in initiating a probe into the gruesome massacre leaves us only doubting the government and nobody else,” Raina said.

He hailed the majority Muslim population of Kashmir for standing with their Sikh brethren in times of crisis and, “not giving us any reason whatsoever to migrate despite killing such a large scale massacre of our community members.”

36 male members of the community were assembled, in a village play ground, by men in Army fatigue in late hours of the evening of March 20, 2000. They were fired upon indiscriminately killing all but one. “We were led into believing that there were militants present in the area and the search operation was to nab them. Little did we know what was in store,” said 60- year-old Nanak Singh.

Singh, the lone survivor of the massacre, lost his 16-year-old son, a brother and three of his cousins in the blood bath.

He says that the night has given him 16 years of sleepless nights, “and the fact that the killers of our loved ones roam free adds insult to the unhealed wounds.”

The Sikh community in Chattisinghpora, a small village in Anantnag district, will over the course of next few days organize prayer meets and protest demonstrations to pray for their slain loved ones and commemorate the gruesome night of the year 2000.

Indian Army’s Staged Massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chattisingpora in 2000, And The Cover-Up