Srinagar: The families of Kashmiris killed in Zakoora and Tengpora massacres in 1990 by the Indian forces still await justice as India continues to ignore their repeated calls for taking the culprits to task.
On 01 March 1990, Indian security forces committed twin massacres in Zakoora and Tengpora Bypass in IIOJK that left 26 and 21 people dead respectively.
Zakoora and Tengpora massacres were the killing of protesters calling for the implementation of United Nations resolution regarding the plebiscite in Kashmir at Zakoora Crossing and Tengpora Bypass Road in Srinagar.
Zakoora massacre was carried out when peaceful protesters were on the way towards the office of United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to submit a memorandum seeking resolution of Kashmir dispute.
On the same day, 21 more unarmed people were killed when Army targeted two buses near Tengpora Bypass in Batamaloo area of Srinagar city. The dead included five women also. Eyewitnesses said that the passenger buses were on the way to South Kashmir when they were targeted.
The twin massacres sparked widespread protests across Kashmir while authorities imposed curfew to diffuse the volatile situation. Amnesty International issued an appeal for urgent action on Tengpora and Zakoora massacres; however, no action was initiated against anyone.
Thirty-three years have passed; victim families still await justice. No enquiry was initiated against culprits nor anyone involved in these heinous and inhuman crimes was brought to book. India continues to brutalize the defenceless Kashmiris in IIOJK through extra-judicial killings in fake “encounters” and staged “cordon-and-search” operations, custodial torture and imposition of collective punishment.
These atrocities cannot break the will of the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions.
Pakistan urges the international community to hold India accountable for its grave human rights violations in the occupied territory, which warrant investigations under international scrutiny to bring the perpetrators of these serious crimes to justice.
