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Journalism of Courage
A Kashmiri Sikh body demanded a fresh probe into the Chitisinghpora massacre in which 35 members of the minority community were massacred by unidentified gunmen in March 2000.
“For the last 11 years,we are demanding an inquiry into Chitisinghpora,but till now no inquiry has been ordered,” All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina told reporters.
In March 2000,35 Sikhs were gunned down in Chitisinghpora village of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district,on the eve of the then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India.
The government blamed Lashkar-e-Toiba for the massacre and few days later police claimed to have killed the five foreign militants involved in the incident. However,a CBI inquiry revealed that the killed youth were local civilians and not militants.
“Many agencies are planning such conspiracies and we want a probe into that,” Raina said.
APSCC also asked the government and the army to come clean on what happened during the US President Barack Obama’s visit last year to the country when uniformed gunmen intruded into two predominantly Sikh villages,raising fears in the community.
“When Obama came here,the government and the Union Home Minister said minorities here,which are Sikhs,face danger. Then incidents took place in Upalnar and Hatmura,and both the incidents had similar modus operandi. If government and army had good intentions,they would have told us whether it was their mistake or someone else’s,” Raina said.
The Sikh body also demanded 15 per cent reservation in the state jobs and minority status for them in the state.
“The height of callousness towards the demands of sikhs by the central and state government is evident by facts as despite valid reasons sikhs here are not given the minority status,” Raina alleged.
He said the Sikh body had sent a document to the state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “But it was not even acknowledged,” he alleged.
APSCC said sikhs will continue to remain in the Valley as they are part of the society and will fight for their rights.
A World Sikh Political Conference will be organised in June this year and a “white paper” will be issued,he said. The sikh body also said they will remain with the majority community and protest all the “innocent killings” of civilians.
“We are all Kashmiris,do not think us separate. Whatever majority decides here we are with them,” he said.
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