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Attacks on Minorities
A deliberate campaign
of targeted brutalities against members of the minority Kashmiri Pandit
Community in 1990 led to the mass exodus of more than 350,000 people, in
a bid by the terrorists to change the very demographic profile of
the Kashmir Valley. This is reflected in various sections of these pages.
Thereafter, thousands of their homes have been destroyed and put to the
torch. This is not all. However small the members of other minority communities,
their members and even their schools, have been subjected to threats, violence
and killing. All these show a pattern of how fundamentalist extremism has
been used for the terrorist agenda.
Killings of Kashmiri Pandits
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Case No.: 1
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Name: Tej Krishen Razdan (Age:30s)
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Resident of: Yachgam (District Budgam)
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Profession: Central Govt. Service
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Date of Killing: 12.2.1990
Razdan was posted somewhere in Punjab. He had
come to Srinagar on leave to see his family. An old colleague of his -
a Muslim - who had been working with him while he was in Kashmir - came
to pay a visit on the fateful day. Both of them boarded a mini-bus bound
for Lal Chowk. When the matador (mini van) halted at Gao Kadal, Razdan's
companion suddenly took out a pistol and shot him in the chest. Not content,
he dragged the still breathing Razdan out of the vehicle and ordered other
passengers to kick the dying man repeatedly. His body was then dragged
through the street like sweepers drag a dead dog. Taken to the nearest
mosque, the dead body was put on display for hours before the police came
to take control of the body.
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Case No.: 2
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Name: Ashok Kumar Qazi (Age: 30s)
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Resident of: Shashyar, Srinagar
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Profession: Worked in the Handicrafts Deptt
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Date of Killing: 24.2.1990
A group of three terrorists accosted him on the
fateful day in Zaindar Mohalla locality while he was going for shopping.
They shot him on the knuckles. He fell down and cried in agony for help.
None among the passers by or the shopkeepers responded. They just looked
the other way despite the fact that they knew the man as he belonged to
their locality and was an energetic social worker. In their sadistic frenzy,
the three murderes tarted a death dance around the helpless Qazi. Theyy
pulled his hair out. They slapped him continuously and they spat on his
face. One of them even unfastened his trousers and urinated on him. Dying
and profusely bleeding, the militants did not kill him immediately but
enjoyed the writhing and twitching of his body. They wanted him to die
by inches. The siren of a distant police van, however, mercifully ended
his agony as, in panic, the terrorists pumped bullets into his stomach
and chest leaving his dead body on the frozen road.
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Tika Lal Taploo
Prominent lawyer and political activist. He
was vice president of BJP (J&K). |
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Case No.: 3
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Name: Navin Saproo (Age:30s)
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Resident of: Habba Kadal, Srinagar
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Profession: Central Govt. Service
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Date of Killing: 27.2.1990
He was returning from his office when, near Kanya Kadal, terrorists sprayed him with bullets in broad day-light and in full
view of the passersby; he fell down but was still breathing. A Hindu woman,
who happened to be there, frantically pleaded with the terrorists to spare
the young man's life. She was pushed back. Dancing around him in glee,
they shot at him over and over again avoiding any vital organ just to prolong
his agony bleeding profusely. For the terrorists, the sadism was yet to
come. As the wailing relatives of the young man took away his body in a
police van - yes in a police van - the terrorists followed in a truck right
up to the cremation ground, dancing and singing all the way. The singing
and dancing continued till his body was reduced to ashes.
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Case No.: 4
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Name: P. N. Kaul
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Resident of: Bijbihara, District Anantnag
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Profession: Shopkeeper
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Date of Killing: 22.3.1990
He was skinned off alive and left to die. His
putrified body was discovered three days later.
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Case No.: 5
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Name: B. K. Ganjoo (Age:30s)
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Resident of: Chota Bazar, Srinagar
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Profession: Central Govt. Service
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Date of Killing: 22.3.1990
Ganjoo, a telecom engineer, was coming home during
the curfew relaxation period. He never suspected that he was being followed
by the terrorists as he had no reason to be a suspect. When he reached
the vicinity of his house, his wife, however, observed that he was being
pursued. As Ganjoo entered his house, she quickly bolted and locked the
door. But the terrorists were undeterred and crashed through. The pursued
man ran up to the third floor of his house and hid himself in a rice bin.
The terrorists ransacked the entire house and were ready to leave as they
could not locate their victim. But the fate willed otherwise. Ganjoo's
muslim neighbors, who had seen Ganjoo hide himself in the bin, called the
militants back and pointed towards the container. Out they pulled him,
pumped him with bullets and left him bleeding on the rice. While leaving,
they shouted, "Let your blood be soaked in the rice and let your children
eat it. Ah, what a tasty meal it would be".
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P. N. Bhatt
Prominent lawyer of Anantnag, a social worker
and a political activist. |
Sarvanand Premi
He was a poet, a deeply religious man who
as a teacher had enlightened many minds around him. |
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Case No.: 6
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Name: Bhushan Lal Raina (Age: 29 years)
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Resident of: Ompora, District Budgam
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Profession: Worked in Sher-i-Kashmir Medical
Institute, Soura
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Date of Killing: 28.4.1990
Scared by the terrorists' violence in the valley,
Raina had finally decided to leave Kashmir along with his mother. He wanted
to leave on April 29 and started packing his belongings a day earlier.
While he was busy, a group of terrorists gate-crashed into his house. Seeing
them, the aged mother of Raina implored them to spare the life of his son
as he was about to be married. "They could kill her instead if kill they
must", she pleaded. But they would not listen to her. With a sharp pointed
iron rod, they pierced his skull. They dragged him out and nailed him to
a tree after stripping off his clothes. They killed him by inches while
he begged to be shot.
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Case No.: 7 and 8
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Name: Sarwanand Kaul Premi (Age: 64 years)
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Virender Kaul (Age: 27 years) - Son
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Resident of: Soaf Shali, District Anantnag
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Profession: Retired Teacher, Central Govt.
Service respectively
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Date of Killing: 30.4.1990
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Premi was a well-known Kashmiri poet and a scholar.
Even though his family requested him to leave the village in view of the
mounting terrorist activities and unabated killings of his community members,
he refused, believing in the "secular traditions" of his beloved Kashmiri.
He was deeply religious and also deeply liberal. He thought he was respected
widely in the area predominated by the Muslims. And this faith was ultimately
shattered when in the evening of 29th April, three terrorists entered his
house and ordered the entire family to collect in one room. The terrorists
ordered that they should collect all their valuable - gold, jewelery, cash,
pashmina garments, saris, shawls etc. - in the room. The other gold women
and the men were wearing was torn off their bodies. Packing all these in
an emptied suitcase, they asked the frail and soft-spoken Premi to carry
the suitcase and follow them. "We mean no harm to him and he will return",
the terrorists told the wailing and weeping family members. Then fate intervened
and Virender Kaul, his son, volunteered to accompany his father so that
he could lead the old man back in the dark night. "Come on you too, if
you so desire", they told Virender. Both, the father and the son, were
herded out of the house.
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What followed would put to shame even Hitler's secret
agents. When the dead bodies were found after two days, the scene was apalling
and nauseating. The place in between the eyebrows, where Premi used to
apply the sandal wood mark commonly known as "Tilak" was found pierced
by an iron and skin peeled off. The entire body bore the marks of cigarette
burns. The limbs were found broken and eyes of both father and the son
gouged out. They were later hanged and to be doubly sure shot too.
This, to a man, in whose house a rare manuscript
of the holy Quran was found placed with reverence in his prayer room.
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Case No.: 9
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Name: Dina Nath Mujoo (Age: 75 years)
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Resident of: Rawalpora, Srinagar
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Profession : Retired Govt employee
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Date of Killing: 7.7.1990
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An educationist, a social worker and deeply religious
man, Mujoo lived in his Rawalpora house along with his wife. He refused
to leave Kashmir in spite of the pleadings of his doctor son in Delhi.
Mujoo believed in the philosophy of J. Krishnamurthy who, whenever he came
to India, would find Mujoo attending his lectures. Of late, he had been
attending the discourses of the world renouned authority on Kashmir Shaivism,
Swami Lakshmanjoo, in his ashram near Nishat.
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This, perhaps, proved to be the old man's undoing.
And on the night of July 7, a couple of terrorists entered his house scaling
the wall by using a ladder. It was dead of night and the old couple was
sleeping. They were, however, shaken out of their slumber and the murderers
repeatedly stabbed Mujoo till he breathed his last leaving his old wife
soaked in the blook of her husband.
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N. K. Ganju
Session judge who had tried Maqbool Bhat of
JKLF for treason and murder of a police officer. |
Dina Nath
Killed on 13.4.1990 |
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Case No.: 10
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Name: Girija Tickoo (Age: Late 20s)
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Profession: Teacher
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Date Or Killing: 25.6.1990
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Girija had left the Valley in the wake of mounting
terrorism and spate of killings of minority community there. She was in
Jammu when someone told her that she can collect her pay at Bandipora where
she was working in school before fleeing the valley. She was assured that
she will come to no harm as the conditions had started returning to normal.
She left for Srinagar snd then for Bandipora in north Kashmir from there.
She never returned. Her body sawn into two, was found on the road-side
on 25th June, 1990. From examination of the body, it was found that she
was first-raped and then cut into two pieres not by a mechanical saw, but
by a carpenter's saw - yes by a carpenter saw. The agony is hard to imagine.
A living human being sawn by a carpenter's saw by barbarians claiming to
be the fighters for freedom.
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Case No.: 11 and 12
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Name: i/ Prof K. L. Ganjoo
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ii/ Mrs K. L. Ganjoo
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Age: i/ Late 40s
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ii/ -do-
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Resident of: Sopore
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Profession:i/ Lecturer
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ii/ Teacheress
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Date of Killing: 7.5.1990
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Ganjoo, a lecturer at the Agricultural College at
Wadors near Sopore, had returned from Nepal after attending a conference
along with his wife. Two officials of the college were sent with a jeep
to receive him. And receive they did. Dragging him and his wife out of
the vehicle, right in the middle of the bridge at Sopore, they shot at
him. They threw the wounded man into the river Jhelum to die. A young nephew
of the couple, who was also with them, was given a choice-either to jump
into the river to which his uncle had been consigned or watch what they
were going to do with his aunt. They counted "3" and the boy jumped into
the river. The bullet riddled body of Prof Ganjoo was found some days later
on the banks of river Jhleum. His nephew, a non-swimmer, somehow survived
and managed to escape. What happened to Prof Ganjoo's wife is not exactly
known, there being conflicting reports about her. According to official
reports, police has not been able to trace her out so far. But some newspaper
reports say that she was gang raped by the terrorists and then killed in
a gruesome manner.
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Case No.: 13
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Name: Shri Ashok Kumar
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Age: 30s
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Resident of: Pulwama
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Profession: Not known
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Date of Killing: Not available
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Ashok Kumar was kidnapped by Jamat-i-lslami militants.
The kidnappers broke his limbs and then brought him to the main squnre
of the town. There, he was forced to confess/being a member of the CPI(M).
He was then asked to beg for mercy which he did. Even then the militants
did not let him off. They gouged out his eyes and shot him dead.
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Bansi Lal Saproo
R/O: Gulab Bagh
Killed on 24.4.1990
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Choni Lal Koul
R/O: Churath, Kulgam |
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Case No.: 14
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Name: Ashok Suri
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Resident of: Kralpora
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Profession: Driver
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Suri, who was a driver, used to carry newspapers
to the western news stand in Lal Chowk, Srinagar. On the fateful day, he
was kidnapped by the militants on his way to Srinagar. They very sevely
tortured him and his body bore the marks of cigarette burns which bears
the testimony of the extent to which he was subjected to. When he was almost
half dead they told him that they actually wanted to kill his brother and
had caught hold of him by mistake. At this stage, the militants let him
off. On reaching home somehow, Suri narrated the incident to his brother,
an employee of SBI, Srinagar. He beggcd of him to flee as his life was
in danger. But the latter did not agree. At about midnight, the militants
came again and gate crashed in his house. They attacked Ashok Suri with
a sharp edged weapon cutting his neck and left him to die.
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Case No.: 15
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Name: Chuni Lal Shalla
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Resident of: Sopore
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Profession: Inspector of Police, J&K Govt.
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Shalla was posted at Langate near Kupwars. He wanted
to visit his family at Sopore after about six months. To avoid being identified
by the Jamat-i-Islami mililants, Shalla had grown beard. A Muslim constable
working under him at Langate, also accompanied him in the same bus to Sopore.
On reaching Sopore, two militants came searching for him but could not
recognise him. They had hardly left when the Muslim Constable called them
back and divalged the identity of Shalla to them. Without waiting for him,
the Constable himself took out a dagger and slashed off his entire right
cheek along with the beard. Blood queshed out and the poor Shalla was in
a state of shock. The cruel Constable jolted him saying "You suar (pig).
I will not allow you to have Jamat-i-Islami type beard on your other cheek
also. He slashed off his left cheek too. The two militants and the Muslim
Constable then battered his face with hockey sticks shouting "Bastard,
we won't waste a bullet on you". They fled the scene and left Shall bleeding
to die.
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Ramesh Kumar Raina
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Killed on 28.5.1990
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Raju Sharma
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Killed on 8.6.1990
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Case No.: 16
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Name: Damodar Saroop Raina (Age: 65 years)
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Resident of: Dambeloo (Anantnag)
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Profession: Retired Govt. employee
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The terrorists came to his house at dead of night.
He tried to avoid to meet them. His wife pleaded with them that he was
not in the house. But they gate crashed and searched the entire house.
Finding the old man hiding in a corner in the top floor room, they dragged
him out, ignoring the heart rending pleas of his wife. They took no heed
of her wailing. She cried for help from the neighbours but except staring
stone faced from their houses, they refused to come to her aid. The old
man continues to be untraced so far.
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Case No.: 17
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Name: B. L. Raina (Age: 35 years)
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Resident of: Dambeloo (Anantnag)
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Profession: Govt. employee
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Date of Killing: 26.6.1990
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Son of case no. 16, was out of the valley but went
back on hearing the news of the kidnapping of his father. For 25 days,
they waited with the security forces guarding him, his family and other
relatives who had come from Jammu after hearing the news of kidnapping
of Mr. Saroop. On 26th June, police told them that it was futile to wait
as there was no chance of his recovery dead or alive. Accompanied by a
posse of security men, the family was despatched in a vehicle to Jammu.
Raina accompanied them up to Qazigund leaving behind his wife and two children
in his native village. After the other members of the family were safely
despatched, he returned to Anantnag and then to his village in spite of
the warning of the police that there was danger and he also should move
to Jammu. But he could not do so, for he had left his family at Dambeloo.
Just a kilometer from his home, the vehicle was ambushed by terrorists
and Raina was one of the three victims. So within a span of 23 days, two
members of the family - father and son - fell victims to the terrorists.
The father had already lost another son two years ago.
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Case No.: 18 & 19
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Name: Hridaya Nath and Radha Krishen
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Resident of: Habba Kadal, Srinagar
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Date of Killing: 9.7.1990
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Their bodies were found with chopped heads.
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Chota Lal Maisuma
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Killed on 7.6.1990
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Avtar Krishan
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Killed on 14.6.1990
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Case No.: 20, 21 & 22
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Name: Mujoo and two unknown
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Date of Killing: First week of July 1990
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All three were kidnapped and told to donate blood
for the wounded terrorists. They agreed for fear of their lives not knowing
that they were going to a sudden death. The barbarians drained the entire
blood from their bodies till they were dead.
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Another victim of fundamentalist brutalities,
Shri Tapoo,
who was burnt alive in a house after being
abducted.
Killings of Sikhs
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Case No.: 1
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Date: 20.3.90
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Place: Khandabal, Anantnag
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Gajender Singh, a Central Government employee was
shot dead.
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Case No.: 2
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Date: 22.4.90
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Place: Shopian, Pulwama
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Dalip Singh, a Head Constable of J&K Police (Civil)
was shot dead by terrorists. A large number of Sikh families consequently
migrated.
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Janki Nath
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Killed on 26.7.1990
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Rattan Lal Raina
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Killed on 18.8.1990
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Case No.: 3
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Date: 20.5.90
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Place: Baramulla
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Jagjit Singh, a bus driver was shot dead by terrorists
provoking demonstrations by the Sikh community.
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Case No.: 4
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Date: 11.7.90
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Place: Tral, Pulwama
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Raghunath Singh, a retired Army soldier was kidnapped,
tortured and subsequently killed by terrorists. Nearly 1,500 Sikhs demonstrated
against the incident.
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Omkar Nath Kak R/O: Tarhaman
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Killed on 29.8.1990
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Bansi Lal
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Killed on 30.8.1990
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Case No.: 5
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Date: 9.11.90
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Place: Baramulla
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Mukhtiar Singh, a tnuck driver, was shot dead by
terrorists causing resentment among the Sikhs in the Valley.
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Case No.: 6
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Date: 21.12.90
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Place: Anantnag
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Man Mohan Singh, a cloth merchant, was kidnapped
by terrorists and subsequently killed.
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Case No.: 7
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Date: 2.2.91
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Place: Kakpora, Pulwama
Keeker Singh, a retired policeman was shot dead
by terrorists.
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Dwarika Nath
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Killed on 13.9.1990
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Rajinder Prasad
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Killed on 15.12.1990
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Case No.: 8
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Date: 23.2.91
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Place: Batmaloo, Srinagar
Sukhdev Singh, a Sikh was shot dead by terrorists.
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Case No.: 9
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Date: 18.5.91
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Place: Uri, Baramulla
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Mehar Singh, a Station House Officer, Police Station,
Uri, was kidnapped by terrorists and subsequently tortured and killed.
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Case No.: 10
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Date: 30.10.90
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Place: Baramulla
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Mrs. Inder Kaur, wife of a police official, was shot
dead by terrorists.
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Case No.: 11
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Date: 8.4.92
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Place: Batwara, Srinagar
Dead body of a Sikh recovered from the river Jhelum.
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Case No.: 12
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Date: 18.7.92
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Place: Baramulla
Sheetal Singh, Dy. SP shot dead in his house
by terrorists.
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Omkar Nath Raina |
Shuban Lal Kullan |
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Case No.: 13
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Date: 27.9.92
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Place: Hatmura, Anantnag
Gurcharan Singh, a local Sikh, shot dead.
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Case No.: 14
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Date: 16.10.92
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Place: Safapura, Baramulla
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P.P. Singh, a Sikh ASI, JKP, Incharge, Police Post,
was shot dead by terrorists.
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Case No.: 15
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Date: 27.11.92
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Place: Naikbagh, Srinagar
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Body of a Sikh, killed by terrorists was recovered
from the locality.
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Case No.: 16
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Date: 1.2.92
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Place: Jammu
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Armed terrorists intruded into the house of
Surjit Singh and shot him dead alongwith his wife.
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Case No.: 17
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Date: 22.3.92
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Place: Jammu
Suspected Punjab terrorists shot dead 3 members
of a Sikh family.
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Case No.: 18
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Date: 26.9.92
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Place: Dugyana, Jammu
A JKP Sikh Constable killed by Sikh terrorists.
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Case No.: 19
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Date: 15.11.92
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Place: Nanak Nagar, Jammu
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Gurdeep Singh Bobby s/o late Tara Singh was shot
dead by terrorists (Sikhs) and his seriously injured in their home.
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Bomb Explosions in Christian Missionary Schools
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Case No.: 1
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Date: 10.5.89
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Place: Lal Chowk, Srinagar
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An explosive device planted in the building of Biscoe
Memorial School, caused damage to the building.
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Case No.: 2
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Date: 17.3.90
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Place: Sonawar, Srinagar
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An attempt was made to set ablaze Burn Hall School,
affiliated with local Catholic mission.
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Case No.: 3
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Date: 23.5.90
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Place: Lal Chowk, Srinagar
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An explosive device was hurled into the compound
of Biscoe Memorial School. Earlier, the terrorists had asked the Principal
to impart Arabic/Islamic education to students.
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Case No.: 4
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Date: 22.11.90
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Place: Lal Chowk, Srinagar
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Another explosion occurred in the Biscoe Memorial
School premises, forcing closure of Christian missions schools.
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Case No.: 5
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Date: 23.2.91
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Place: Lal Chowk, Srinagar
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An explosion was caused near the building of Miss
Melanson Girls School.
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Case No.: 6
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Date: 5.7.92
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Place: Lal Chowk, Srinagar
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An explosion occurred in the Biscoe Memorial School.
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