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Srinagar, January 26, 2019 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, with justice eluding the victims for the past almost three decades, like every year, Handwara remembered one of the worst massacres of the Kashmir history. Seventeen innocent Kashmiris were killed when Indian paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) personnel had opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful demonstrators in the town on January 25 in 1990.
On the fateful day, thousands of people marching from Langate, Qalamabad, Rajwar, Kulangam, Unisoo, Chowgal and other villages assembled at Handwara Chowk, protesting against Gaw Kadal massacre.
“We remember BSF personnel entered the police station and when they came out they showered bullets at us. I ran for my life but saw many people fall,” said Showkat Hassan Pandit, a survivor.
“I was in higher secondary school then. My friend Shabbir was with me. The soldiers came threateningly close to us and we though they are merely chasing us away but then they starting firing on the gathering and I heard people crying khudaya marekh ha (God, we are being killed),” he said.
Ajaz Ahmed Sofi, a local resident, said several protesters tried to save themselves by trying to enter the residence of a member of so-called Kashmir Assembly, Mohammad Ramzan Chowdhary, but were greeted by a volley of bullets from his guards.
“It pains us that we have not been given justice but every colonial power has been using the methodology of denying justice to victims, humiliating them and justifying their sufferings,” he said.
Meanwhile, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference General Secretary, Ghulam Nabi Sumjhi, in a statement issued in Srinagar paid glowing tributes to the victims of the Handwara massacre. He deplored that victims were not provided with justice even after the passing of twenty nine years.
On the other hand, the Chairman of International Forum for Justice and Human Rights, Muhammad Ahsan Untoo, in a statement in Srinagar demanded a fresh probe into Handwara massacre. He said, “Till this date the authorities did not answer our queries as to what led to this massacre. Killed persons were civilians, who were protesting peacefully.”
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Phone: 92-51-4435548, 4435549
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