Qaisar Mansoor
The memories of twin massacres still haunts the survivors of carnage carried on scores of unarmed civilians by Indian troops in Zakura Crossing and Tengpora after opening indiscriminate firing on them on March 1, 1990. About 50 innocent civilians were killed and dozens wounded in the incidents.
The twin massacres took place at two extremes of occupied Srinagar, when thousands of Kashmiris flocked streets of the city and other major towns of the occupied territory, demanding freedom from India. Twenty-six peaceful demonstrators, who were to submit a memorandum to the United Nations Observers Office at Sonawar, were killed and scores wounded by Indian troops at Zakura crossing.
Raja Nazir Ahmad, a survivor of the Zakura massacre said that everything was going on well when at around 12 suddenly some army vehicles turned towards the protestors and opened unprovoked firing on them for about two hours. “As the firing stopped and I regained my senses, what I found was that I had miraculously survived in the mayhem and around me were the piles of dead bodies lying in a pool of blood and the injured crying for help.”
Another survivor said that the demonstrators were carrying green flags and marching towards the occupied Srinagar raising pro-freedom slogans when the massacre took place. He pointed out that the troops resorted to indiscriminate firing for around two hours. “Scores of people belonging to Telbal, Batpora, Alusteng, Danihama, Chaterhama and adjoining areas were proceeding towards occupied Srinagar via Batpora crossing road when army men in three vehicles came in the opposite direction and opened fire at the Zakura crossing,” he added.
As people were busy washing bloodstained Zakura Crossing, another bloodbath was in waiting at Tengpora bye-pass. Around 5 pm, Indian troopers emptied their magazines, yet again on peaceful and unarmed protesters who were in a bus, gunning down 21 of them. Five women were among the dead.
The relatives of those who were massacred have been awaiting justice for last 20 years but the authorities are not taking cognisance of it despite the passage of two long decades. “A day after massacre, an FIR was lodged in the police Chowki in Zakura (now a police station) but no action was taken against the army men involved in the incident, said the locals.
