Kot Charwal Massacre 2001 – The Bakkarwal shepherd community carnage by Islamic terrorists in Rajouri

 

 

 

On 9th of Feb 2001, a troop of soldiers arriving at Kot Charwal village of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir had become eyewitness of a gruesome carnage. The embers of the burnt down shacks of the villagers had cooled and the soldiers recovered the charred bodies of 15 victims that included seven children. The horrifying incident shook not one but all. The killer terrorists spared no women or children while they were asleep unaware of the horror that awaited them. The victims belonged to the Bakkarwal shepherd community of the village whose families were burnt alive by the terrorists.

 

 

 

The terrorists executed the Kot Charwal carnage at a time when the shepherds had taken on terrorist groups active on the mountains above Rajouri. On 8th of Feb 2001, their houses were set on fire in dark when the victims were asleep. The following day, the afternoon of Feb 9, the soldiers discovered the charred bodies of victims and found out about 15 killings 2001, their houses were set on fire in dark when the victims were asleep. The following day, the afternoon. The terrorists had made holes in the roofs and lobbed in hand-grenades. Later they set the houses on fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The soldiers who arrived at Kot Charwal first thought that the residents must have run off into the dense woods around the village to escape the terrorists who had set their homes on fire. To their shock, as soon as they began clearing the debris, they began recovering bodies of men, women and even children. The first charred body emerged an hour later the search had begun. Later they found a hardly identifiable burnt body of a woman, wrapped around an infant she tried to protect. By late evening, 15 bodies had been found. Seven were of children, the youngest of them just four years old.

 

 

It was quite apparent that the village defence committee set up by the Bakkarwal shepherd community led to the brutal attack and mass killing of their families by terrorists. Residents of the Salohi mohra had formed the first all-Muslim Village Defence Committee in the district in December, after one local resident was executed by terrorist of the Harkatul Mujahideen. The committees were set up to protect Hindu minorities and were local self-defence groups that officially was equipped with rifles to guard remote mountain hamlets against terrorist attacks and intimidation.

 

 

 

In wake of the Ramzan ceasefire then, the number of troops had thinned down and Kot Charwal villagers suspected any such activity by terrorists. But they certainly had not expected brutality of that extent. A group of terrorists arrived the village late that night, they beat up members of the families, took advantage of the darkness, and surrounded three dhokes, the shelters made of wood and earth. Leaving no opportunity for escape the dhokes were bolted from the outside. They clambered on to its roof and cleared a hole to lob hand grenades inside. A few minutes later, kerosene was splattered over the structure, and it was set on fire.