Sikh News Chittisinghpura Massacre Still Haunts Him

[drkhalsa]

Chittisinghpura massacre still haunts him
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service​

Jammu, March 17
Seven years have passed since the massacre of 35 Sikhs by unidentified terrorists at Chittisinghpura but Nanak Singh, the lone survivor of the brutal attack, still has fresh in his mind memories of the incident. Residents of this village will observe the seventh anniversary of the massacre on March 20 even as the Army and CRPF have been deployed in and around the village in Kashmir.
Just a reminder of the brutal incident in which his 16-year-old son Gurmeet Singh, brother Darbari Singh (30) and three first cousins lay dead in a pool of blood sends shivers through his spine. He always carries the photo of Gurmeet Singh in his wallet. His elder son was fortunately out of the village at that time.
Nanak Singh himself lay unconscious on the heap of bodies as he was also shot in the pelvis. He recalls that the 12 terrorists were laughing and sending a signal of “mission accomplished” on the walkie-talkie to someone after the massacre. He was taken to the district hospital at Anantnag and later shifted to Srinagar.
He recalls that it was about 7.45 p.m. and it was drizzling after the village folk had celebrated Holi when two groups of gunmen barged into the village and asked the Sikhs to line up outside the two gurdwaras. Thereafter, they were fired at indiscriminately. Screams of women and children echoed in the village till the next morning when the security forces reached there.
Nanak laments that although seven years have passed but the government has not bothered to order a probe into the massacre. In contrast, the government lost no time in ordering a CBI probe and punishing the guilty Army and police personnel involved in the killing of five persons belonging to the majority community at Pathribal that is just a stone throw away from Chittisinghpura. “Is it a sin to belong to the minority community. I am still feeling insecure and the government has not bothered to provide security to my family,” he said. Nanak Singh says that several top leaders from Delhi and Srinagar visited the village to shed crocodile tears the very next day but they forgot the promises made to the widows once they flew back through the Pir-Panchal ranges.
The village does not have a telephone and the boys had to run 7 km to make a telephone call to inform the police about the massacre. Moreover, the roads to the neighbouring villages inhabited by the majority community are metalled, but Chittisinghpura continues to be linked by a kuchha road, he added.


----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------