March 25, 2000
CHITTISINGHPORA, India - As this pretty hamlet of 300 Sikh families grieves for its men who were brutally gunned down by militants on Monday night, Sikhs across Kashmir talk of mass migration if the Indian government cannot protect them.
Hundreds of Sikhs who gathered at the gurudwara or Sikh temple in Chittisinghpora, some 100 kilometers south of the state capital Srinagar, for the mass funeral Tuesday were openly hostile to the security forces.
Rajender Singh, the Giani or village priest is very young, but the crowds of mourners gravely listened when he said, ''India should either withdraw from Kashmir or protect its minorities.''
''We had been telling them (authorities) about foreign militants in the area. Even two weeks ago we sent a representation but no one came. They knew everything and yet they ignored us, and now they come in droves after 40 Sikhs have been martyred.''
He said that if the government cannot guarantee the safety of Sikhs then they would have no choice but to leave the Valley - a threat which is reverberating across Kashmir. ''We have no future in the Valley,'' said a prominent Sikh leader in Srinagar.
Only last month a leading Sikh journal, describing the oppression of Sikhs in Afghanistan despite their living in that country for centuries, had questioned the future of the Kashmiri Sikhs.
Members of the community in Chittisinghpora, like Sikhs elsewhere in the state, have lived in peace during the 12 years of militancy in Kashmir. It is their Muslim neighbors and the minority Hindu community of Kashmiri Pandits who suffered.
On the day of the funeral as bewildered Muslims arrived at the temple gates to join the mourners, village elders sent them away for fear of reprisal attacks on Muslims. Shops in Anantnag, the nearby town, voluntarily stayed shut. Javed, speaking on behalf of the traders of the town, said, ''We're fed up of strikes. In 365 days we get to work only 5 days because of these strikes but today we have willingly closed shop because we are shocked by what has happened to our Sikh brothers.''
Speculation is rife about the identity of the gunmen. The Sikhs and Hindus are convinced that Pakistan is involved.
A journalist connected the massacre to the incident at Linjot on February 24 when Indian soldiers of the 9th Sikh Light Infantry allegedly crossed the line of control (LOC) into Pakistan under cover from the artillery and massacred 14 people, beheading three.
However, Muslims in Kashmir firmly believe India stood to gain from the massacre in Chittisinghpora as it coincided with the 5-day visit to India this week by US President Bill Clinton.
Umar Farooq, leader of the Hurriyat Conference which supports azaadi (autonomy or independence) for Kashmir, has condemned the brutal slaying and demanded an independent inquiry. ''We strongly condemn this terrible incident,'' said Farooq, a religious leader who has been under house arrest in Srinagar. ''There must be an investigation through an independent agency like Amnesty International or the Bar Association (of Kashmir)''.
''The whole Kashmiri community is in shock, irrespective of their faith . . . This is a deep rooted conspiracy against the people of Kashmir, designed to create a diversion from the real issue during President Clinton's visit.''
''In all these long years of militancy the two communities (Muslim and Sikh) have lived in harmony,'' Farooq said. ''We belong together, whether we are Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs.'' He urged the Sikhs to ''not take a hasty decision'' on leaving Kashmir.
Most of the Valley's minority Hindu community fled after a series of massacres in the early 1990s. Those who remain live in fear of their lives, and as a risk to their Muslim neighbors who are caught between threats from militants and security forces.
The Sikh community, many of them farmers, had remained untouched by the spiralling violence. In Chittisinghpora, on March 20, villagers mistook the militants dressed in military fatigues to be Indian army soldiers. Karamjit Singh, who had a narrow escape recounts what happened. ''I'd stepped out to get some milk around 7pm and met some friends on the path on my way home. Right near the Gurudwara we saw a group of men from our village talking to some army men.
''I asked what was wrong, and the tall uniformed man who claimed to be a CO (commanding officer) said they suspected three militants were hiding in our village and needed to search the houses. They asked the women and children to stay inside while they pulled the men out.
''I was worried about my wife who gets very tense in such situations so I asked him whether he could excuse me, but he very politely and laughingly said, 'relax, sit down, this won't take more than 5 minutes.'
''Just then in the distance someone shone a flashlight which distracted these men and I slipped away because I really didn't feel like hanging around, and the next thing I hear are automatic rifles shattering the peace of our village forever.''
The men were lined up and shot in two places, simultaneously. One, outside the gurudwara as you approach the village, and the other, in front of another Sikh temple a short distance away.
A former schoolteacher who did not wish to be identified said that he had just asked his young son to close their shop and come in when he heard his neighbor's 19-year-old son being asked to come out of his house. ''Since his father was already outside with the other men he readily obeyed. Then they were made to squat in front of the Gurudwara wall and eat bullets. The men then ran off shouting 'Jai Hind!'''
The stories about that dreadful night differ in their telling. Sometimes the number of assailants is estimated to be 15, sometimes 50. But every Sikh is in agreement about the identity of the gunmen. ''They were militants,'' they concur, ''not Kashmiri militants but foreign militants.''
Over the last few years, Chittisinghpora, in a remote part of Anantnag district, has frequently been visited by foreign militants. The ranks of armed separatists have in recent years been filled with non-Kashmiri mercenaries fired with the idea of liberating ''Muslim'' Kashmir from ''Hindu'' India.
One resident spoke of how militants would arrive quite openly and demand food and shelter. Once, they even played cricket in the village. Another resident described how they would boast about walking across the border unchallenged. A third said that some had visited the village just five days ago, and eaten dinner with the village headman who was the first person to be called out of his home and killed.
Now as a suddenly insecure Sikh community ponders its future in Kashmir, a group representing the interests of Kashmiri Pandit families in the Valley, the Hindu Welfare Forum, says it had only recently met leaders of the Sikh community to see whether they could protect each other.
Says a representative: ''The army and the government have done nothing to protect people, they exist to protect territory. If we are to survive, all minorities must join hands. Chittisinghpora has proven this to be true.''
In fact the massacre this week has shown that Kashmir's elected government, a partner in the ruling Indian coalition government, has not been able to guarantee the safety of either its majority or minority communities.
(Inter Press Service)
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