Sikhs demand fresh probe into Chattisinghpora massacre
Srinagar, Mar 21 (PTI) Sikhs in large number today thronged Chattisinghpora in Anantnag and demanded a fresh probe into the massacre of 35 members of their community there ten year ago during the visit of then U S President Bill Clinton to India. "We urge the government to conduct fresh probe into the killings of the Sikhs," All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) coordinator Jagmohan Singh Raina said during a condolence meet at the village, about 70 kms from here.
The meet was organised to pay homage to the victims who fell to the bullets of unidentified persons during the intervening night of March 20-21 in 2000. Five days after the massacre, the police and the Army had claimed to have killed five "terrorists" involved in the killings at nearby Pathribal, but it later turned out that the deceased were civilians and were killed in a "fake encounter," he said.
An inquiry into the incident was ordered after residents of Brackpora staged demonstrations and during one such demonstration, police and CRPF opened fire killing eight protestors on April 3, 2000. The CBI gave a clean chit to the state police in the massacre case but filed chargesheets against five army officers.
Later, the Supreme Court stayed till further orders the criminal trial against the five officers. "It is the responsibility of the state government and the Centre to restore the shaken confidence of the Sikh community and if they failed to do so then it will be a huge injustice with us," Raina said while pressing for the fresh probe into the massacre and subsequent incidents.