DATE=3/27/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=KASHMIR KILLINGS -- CONTROVERSY
NUMBER=5-46016
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=SRINIGAR
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: One week ago a group of unidentified gunmen
entered a quiet village in Indian Kashmir and
massacred 35 men. The men who were killed belonged to
the minority Sikh community and their murders shocked
Kashmir - a region wracked by separatist violence for
more than a decade. India's government is blaming the
murders on separatist militants and says it has killed
at least five of the men who carried out the massacre
-- but so far India has yet to present hard evidence
backing up its claims. V-O-A correspondent Jim Teeple
reports one week after the massacre - there are still
questions about who carried it out and why.
TEXT: // ACTS OF WAILING WOMEN..EST..AND FADE UNDER
TEXT //
Women and young girls are all that is left of Faquir
Singh's household. Mr. Singh -- his two sons -- and
his two grandsons are dead - murdered last week by
gunmen who entered the quiet Kashmir village of Chati
Singhpura and killed 35 of the village men. Now the
women of Chati Singhpura sob all day and all night
remembering their men. Faquir Singh's widow, Jeet,
says she and her daughters-in-law and her
grandchildren are all scared - scared the gunmen might
someday return. She says now that most of the men in
her family have been killed, she has no idea how her
family will survive.
// URDU ACTUALITY .EST.. AND FADE UNDER TEXT //
Jeet says she and the rest of her family are sure
about one thing - they want to leave their ancestral
home.
Chati Singhpura is one of four Sikh villages, which
lie in Kashmir's Mattan district, just off the main
north-south highway linking the cities of Jammu and
Srinigar. About five thousand Sikhs live in the area
-- part of a population of about 50-thousand Sikhs who
live in the Kashmir valley. Until last week Sikhs had
lived in peace in the valley -- regarded by both
separatist militants and the Indian government as a
neutral force. Until last week Sikhs had avoided the
violence which has left 25-thousand dead over the past
ten years in Kashmir. The Muslim-majority territory
is claimed by both India and Pakistan. For more than
a decade, Islamic guerrillas have been waging a
violent struggle to separate Kashmir from the rest of
India.
/// OPT /// Narinder Singh, a neighbor of Faquir
Singh's family, says he also wants to leave Chati
Singhpura. Narinder Singh's son, Sartaj was one of
the 35-men killed in the massacre. The 70 year-old
farmer and retired government worker says no amount
of government protection will ever make him and his
neighbors feel safe.
/// OPT SINGH ACTUALITY ///
We are not safe here. If they will provide us
with military assistance -- what then - we still
have to go to our fields. What protection can
the government can give us. We are ready to
stay here but what protection are they going to
give us. So far no protection has been provided
to us.
/// END OPT ACT ///
The villagers of Chati Singhpura say they know who
killed their men -- it was separatist militants they
say -- dressed in Indian Army fatigues who entered
their village at dusk one week ago. The villagers say
the militants divided the men into two groups and shot
them at point blank range at opposite ends of the
village. Many say the killings were timed to coincide
with the visit to India of President Bill Clinton - to
embarrass the Indian government.
But many in Kashmir's Muslim community say they are
suspicious about those accusations. They say because
the attackers were dressed in Indian army uniforms
they could be linked to counter-insurgency groups
active in the area. Umar Farooq is the Mirvaiz, or
spiritual leader, of most of Kashmir's Muslim
population. Umar Farooq is also one of the leaders of
the All Parties Huriyat Conference -- an umbrella
grouping of mostly separatist political parties who
seek a political solution to the Kashmir crisis. Umar
Farooq says he too believes the killings were timed to
coincide with the visit of President Clinton to India
-- but he says the massacre was carried out to malign
the separatist cause.
/// FAROOQ ACTUALITY ///
We not only feel but we are sure that the
massacre in the Mattan district was a deliberate
attempt by some agencies who were trying to link
Kashmir with terrorism, link Kashmir with
violence, link Kashmir with Islamic fanatics.
It was most unwanted and it must be noted that
whenever we see some development regarding
Kashmir, whether it Prime Minister Vajpayee's
trip to Lahore, Pakistan when 12 people got
massacred in a village near Jammu or President
Clinton visit to India -- things happen in
Kashmir.
/// END ACT ///
Security officials in Kashmir scoff at accusations the
killings were the work of Indian agencies whose goal
was to hurt the cause of Kashmir separatism. They say
one eyewitness to the massacre has already identified
a local man with ties to separatist guerrillas who
allegedly guided the killers through the village.
Police say that man was arrested and provided
information on the whereabouts of some of the
separatists -- five of whom were subsequently killed
in a gun battle on Saturday.
But questions remain. According to police, nearly 20
militants carried out the massacre at Chati Singhpura
and so far only five have been caught and killed.
Also the bodies of the five alleged militants killed
on Saturday were burned and hastily buried in a nearby
village. Security officials say the militants were
caught in a burning house during the gun battle, and
their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Many in
Kashmir are questioning whether the men killed on
Saturday were actually involved in the Chati Singhpura
killings. So far police have failed to produce any
hard evidence that they were -- leaving many in
Kashmir to question whether security officials in the
troubled region really know who killed the men of
Chati Singhpura. (Signed)
NEB/JLT/KL
27-Mar-2000 08:46 AM EDT (27-Mar-2000 1346 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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