25 January 1998: "Remembering the Wandhama Massacre, When Islamist Terrorists Brutally Slaughtered 23 Kashmiri Hindus Simply for Being Hindu"

 

26 years ago today (25 January, 1998), Islamist terrorists brutally took 23 innocent Kashmiri Hindus out of their homes, lined them up, and killed them in Wandhama village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. Among the victims were also 2- and 4-year-old children. Their only fault was being Hindu.

 

The responsibility for the massacre was attributed to terrorists affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. The massacre was one of the many violent incidents that occurred during the height of terrorism against the minority Kashmiri Hindu Community in Kashmir.

 

The slain civilians had not left Kashmir even as majority of the community had migrated to either Jammu or other parts of the country in the wake of terrorism in Kashmir.

 

According to the testimony of one of the survivors of the incident, a 14-year-old Hindu boy named Vinod Kuman Dhar, On the night of 25 January, the gunmen came to their house dressed like Indian Army soldiers, had tea with them, waiting for a radio message indicating that all Hindu families in the village had been covered. After a brief conversation they rounded up all the members of the Hindu households and then summarily gunned them down with AK-47 rifles, resulting in the brutal killing of 23 Kashmiri Hindus including men, women, and children. The attackers left behind a gruesome scene of violence, shocking the community and drawing widespread condemnation.

 

A day after the incident, (26 January, 1998), agitated Kashmiri Hindus clashed with police in New Delhi, trying to break down barricades and force their way into the National Human Rights Commission. At least 11 demonstrators were injured in the clashes.

 

Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral joined Wandahama mourners on January 28, accompanied by Governor K.V. Krishna Rao, State Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Union Environment Minister Saifuddin Soz. Mr Gujral said: I am here to express my grief on behalf of the nation.

 

In the aftermath of the massacre, investigations were conducted to identify and apprehend those responsible for the heinous act. The tragedy remains a painful chapter in the history of the Kashmir.