dravidianhero
BANNED
- Joined
- May 5, 2012
- Messages
- 1,284
- Reaction score
- -10
- Country
- Location
On January 25, 1998 , 23 Kashmiri Pandits living in
the village of Wandhama were killed by
unidentified gunmen. According to the testimony
of one of the survivors of the incident, a 14 year-
old Hindu boy named Vinod Kuman Dhar. the
gunmen came to their house dressed like Indian
Army soldiers, had tea with them, waiting for a
radio message indicating that all Pandit families in
the village had been covered. After a brief
conversation they rounded up all the members of
the Hindu households and then summarily gunned
them down with Kalashnikov rifles.
The indiscriminate firing on the Pandits spared 16
year-old Manoj Kumar Dhar, and, he was the lone
eyewitness to the massacre. In a statement to
police on that night, Kumar said a group of masked
gunmen came to his house at about 11:30 pm and
forced all those inside to come out. “ I jumped out of
the wall of my house. As soon as my father, brothers
and sisters came out, I saw the gunmen shooting them.
They were crying and begging for life," he had told the
police.
The massacre was allegedly committed by Abdul
Hamid Gada of Hizbul Mujahideen and was timed to
coincide with the Shab-e-Qadar , the holiest night of
the month of Ramzan, when believers stay awake
until dawn. Gada was subsequently shot dead by
Indian security forces in 2000.
Meanwhile, the police that day claimed to had
recovered a letter in which an unknown militant
organisation, Intikaam-ul-Muslimoon , had claimed
responsibility for killing of Pandits. The letter that
was tagged to one of the bullet-ridden bodies
disclosed that this was the beginning of a seriesof
such attacks.
After the massacre, the local Hindu temple was
destroyed, as were the houses of the Pandits.
Police, as usual, falied to arrest or get anyone
convicted . The case was subsequently closed by
police. Sub Divisional police officer Ganderbal
Showkat Ahmad, who was then Station Hose
Officer for the area told Kashmir Times, "The case
has been closed, as no one was identified as the killer
of these Pandits."
Sabhaar : thekashmir.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/
wandhama
the village of Wandhama were killed by
unidentified gunmen. According to the testimony
of one of the survivors of the incident, a 14 year-
old Hindu boy named Vinod Kuman Dhar. the
gunmen came to their house dressed like Indian
Army soldiers, had tea with them, waiting for a
radio message indicating that all Pandit families in
the village had been covered. After a brief
conversation they rounded up all the members of
the Hindu households and then summarily gunned
them down with Kalashnikov rifles.
The indiscriminate firing on the Pandits spared 16
year-old Manoj Kumar Dhar, and, he was the lone
eyewitness to the massacre. In a statement to
police on that night, Kumar said a group of masked
gunmen came to his house at about 11:30 pm and
forced all those inside to come out. “ I jumped out of
the wall of my house. As soon as my father, brothers
and sisters came out, I saw the gunmen shooting them.
They were crying and begging for life," he had told the
police.
The massacre was allegedly committed by Abdul
Hamid Gada of Hizbul Mujahideen and was timed to
coincide with the Shab-e-Qadar , the holiest night of
the month of Ramzan, when believers stay awake
until dawn. Gada was subsequently shot dead by
Indian security forces in 2000.
Meanwhile, the police that day claimed to had
recovered a letter in which an unknown militant
organisation, Intikaam-ul-Muslimoon , had claimed
responsibility for killing of Pandits. The letter that
was tagged to one of the bullet-ridden bodies
disclosed that this was the beginning of a seriesof
such attacks.
After the massacre, the local Hindu temple was
destroyed, as were the houses of the Pandits.
Police, as usual, falied to arrest or get anyone
convicted . The case was subsequently closed by
police. Sub Divisional police officer Ganderbal
Showkat Ahmad, who was then Station Hose
Officer for the area told Kashmir Times, "The case
has been closed, as no one was identified as the killer
of these Pandits."
Sabhaar : thekashmir.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/
wandhama
