MartiAshley1795 at 13:34, 27 March 2026

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{{short description|Fatal shooting of 35 Sikhs in India}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Chittisinghpura massacre
| image =
| caption =
| location = Chittisinghpura, [[Anantnag district]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[India]]
| target = [[Sikh]]s
| date = 20 March 2000
| time =
| timezone =
| type = [[Mass murder]]
| fatalities = 35
}}

The '''Chittisinghpura massacre''' refers to the [[mass murder]] of 35 [[Sikh]] villagers on 20 March 2000 in the village of Chittisinghpura in [[Anantnag district]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[India]] on the eve of the [[U.S. President]] [[Bill Clinton]]'s state visit to India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/684632.stm|title=Kashmir killings overshadow Clinton visit|last=|first=|date=21 March 2000|website=BBC News|access-date=4 March 2020|archive-date=28 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128015132/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/684632.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/other/article30253665.ece|title=The massacre at Chattisinghpora|last=Swami|first=Praveen|date=1 April 2000|website=Frontline|access-date=4 March 2020|archive-date=7 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307131649/https://frontline.thehindu.com/other/article30253665.ece|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Indian government asserts that the massacre was conducted by the Pakistan-based [[militant Islam|militant]] group [[Lashkar-e-Taiba]] (LeT) or [[Hizbul Mujahideen]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Incident Summary |url=https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=200003210002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127115749/https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=200003210002 |archive-date=2024-11-27 |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=[[Global Terrorism Database]] |publisher=[[University of Maryland]] |language=en}}</ref> Though the perpetrators have not been apprehended or convicted and their identity remains debated.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=22 March 2000|title=Killing of Sikhs clouds Clinton visit to India|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/22/india.kashmir|url-status=live|access-date=20 October 2021|website=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824054708/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/22/india.kashmir |archive-date=24 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=25 October 2010|title=Lashkar behind Sikh massacre in Kashmir in 2000, says Headley|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/lashkar-behind-sikh-massacre-in-kashmir-in-2000-says-headley/story-U1HSRGfXRKqZyzgeQoy1OI.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114013820/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Lashkar-behind-Sikh-massacre-in-Kashmir-in-2000-says-Headley/Article1-617459.aspx|archive-date=14 January 2011|access-date=20 March 2020|website=[[Hindustan Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Daiya |first=Kavita |title=Violent Belongings: Partition, Gender, and National Culture in Postcolonial India |publisher=Temple University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7a-FuiMcTYC |year=2011 |isbn=9781592137442 |page=1 |quote=On March 21, 2000, in the war-torn state of Kashmir in India, Islamic militants massacred thirty-five Sikh men from the village of Chitti Singhpora. It was Holi, the festival of colors. Militants with bright Holi colors on their faces wore Indian military uniforms, arrived in the village, told the villagers they were from the army, and dragged the Sikh men out of their houses on the pretext of an "identification parade." All the Sikh men, young and old, were lined up against two walls in the village, and then shot to death. Since the targeting and subsequent exodus of Hindu Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir, this was the first time the Sikh community was targeted and brutally massacre. |access-date=27 March 2023 |archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116225955/https://books.google.com/books?id=P7a-FuiMcTYC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Singh|first=Gurpreet|date=19 March 2018|title=India Owes Answers For The Killings Of 36 Sikhs And 14 Others In Kashmir|url=https://countercurrents.org/2018/03/india-owes-answers-for-the-killings-of-36-sikhs-and-14-others-in-kashmir|url-status=live|access-date=20 March 2020|website=Countercurrents|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701152436/https://countercurrents.org/2018/03/india-owes-answers-for-the-killings-of-36-sikhs-and-14-others-in-kashmir |archive-date=1 July 2019}}</ref>

==Killings==
{{Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir}}
Wearing Indian Army [[Combat uniform|fatigues]], the unknown gunmen arrived into the village in military vehicles in two groups at opposite ends of the village where the two [[gurdwara]]s were located. The militants marched from home to home, introducing themselves as Indian Army personnel and ordered every male member of the household come out for security checks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://freepresskashmir.news/2018/03/20/chittisinghpora-massacre-when-shadowy-gunners-in-army-fatigues-widowed-30-sikh-women/|title= Chittisinghpora Massacre: When shadowy gunners in army fatigues widowed 30 Sikh women|access-date=27 August 2020|website=Free Press Kashmir}}</ref> They ordered them to line up in front of the gurdwaras and opened fire, killing thirty-five Sikhs and shouted pro-India slogans after the massacre.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/names-of-killers-still-reverberate-in-my-ears-19-years-after-chittisinghpora-massacre-lone-survivor-recounts-night-that-killed-35-sikhs-6299441.html|title='Names of killers still reverberate in my ears': 19 years after Chittisinghpora massacre, lone survivor recounts night that killed 35 Sikhs|website=Firstpost|date=21 March 2019 |access-date=29 October 2019|archive-date=21 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321032519/https://www.firstpost.com/india/names-of-killers-still-reverberate-in-my-ears-19-years-after-chittisinghpora-massacre-lone-survivor-recounts-night-that-killed-35-sikhs-6299441.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Bhat |first=Saima |date=26 March 2012 |title=The lone survivor: Nanak Singh |url=https://kashmirlife.net/the-lone-survivor-nanak-singh-2237/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324235427/http://www.kashmirlife.net:80/the-lone-survivor-nanak-singh-2237/ |archive-date=24 March 2017 |access-date=29 October 2019 |website=Kashmir Life}}</ref>

=== Aftermath ===
The massacre was a turning point in the [[Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir]], where Sikhs had usually been spared from militant violence.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dugger|first=Celia W.|date=21 March 2000|title=34 Massacred In Sikh Town In Kashmir|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/21/world/34-massacred-in-sikh-town-in-kashmir.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=20 October 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020140052/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/21/world/34-massacred-in-sikh-town-in-kashmir.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Shortly after the massacre, hundreds of Sikhs gathered in [[Jammu]], shouting anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim slogans, criticising the Indian government for failing to protect the villagers, and demanding retaliation.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jameel|first=Yusuf|date=3 April 2000|title=Slaughter in Singhpora: A Village Becomes Kashmir's Latest Victim|work=[[Time Asia]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0403/india.singhpora.html|access-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010127162800/http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0403/india.singhpora.html|archive-date=27 January 2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=16 August 2013|agency=AP|title=Man arrested in connection with Sikh massacre|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/man-arrested-in-connection-with-sikh-massacre-282450.html|url-status=live|access-date=20 October 2021|website=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029065324/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/man-arrested-in-connection-with-sikh-massacre-282450.html |archive-date=29 October 2019}}</ref>

==Investigations==
In 2000, Indian authorities announced that Mohammad Suhail Malik, a nephew of Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder [[Hafiz Muhammad Saeed]], confessed while in Indian custody to participating in the attacks at the direction of Lashkar-e-Taiba. He repeated the claim in an interview with [[Barry Bearak]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' while still in Indian custody.<ref name="Bearak">{{citation|last=Bearak|first=Barry|title=A Kashmiri Mystery|date=31 December 2000|url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001231mag-kashmir.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|quote=The conversation was mostly in Urdu, once again a language I did not speak. I could study his eyes but not his phrasing or inflections, the little clues as to what was being held back in the privacy of his head. When we left, I asked Surinder Oberoi, my journalist friend, if he thought Malik was telling the truth.<br />'Yes, I think so,' he answered after a pause. Then he added a cautionary shrug and a sentence that stopped after the words 'But you know. ... '<br />Malik showed no signs of physical abuse, but, as with Wagay, the torture of someone in his situation would not be unusual. Once, over a casual lunch, an Indian intelligence official told me that Malik had been 'intensively interrogated.' I asked him what that usually meant. 'You start with beatings, and from there it can go almost anywhere,' he said. Certainly, I knew what most Pakistanis would say of the confession -- that the teenager would admit to anything after persistent electrical prodding by the Indians. And it left me to surmise that if his interrogators had made productive use of pain, was it to get him to reveal the truth or to repeat their lies?|accessdate=4 November 2009|archive-date=7 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107134356/http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001231mag-kashmir.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Villagers also told Bearak that militants had visited the place weeks prior and had mingled with them, which they now saw as reconnaissance for the massacre. Widows also claimed to recognized the voices of the attackers.<ref name="Bearak" /> According to Indian journalist [[Praveen Swami]], "Few people in the village believe stories claiming that the assailants were Indian Army soldiers."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Swami |first=Praveen |author-link=Praveen Swami |date=2000-03-31 |title=The massacre at Chattisinghpora |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/other/article30253665.ece |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]] |language=en}}</ref>

In 2005, Sikh organizations headed by the Bhai Kanahiya Jee Nishkam Seva Society demanded a deeper state inquiry into the details of the massacre<ref name="Tribune">[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051112/j&k.htm#3 Sikhs want CBI probe into Chittisinghpura Massacre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501182705/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051112/j%26k.htm#3 |date=1 May 2007 }}, ''Tribune India''. 11 November 2005. Accessed on 20 October 2021.</ref> and for the inquiry to be made public. The state government ordered an inquiry into the massacre.

In an introduction to a book written by [[Madeleine Albright]] titled ''The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs'' (2006), [[Bill Clinton]] accused "Hindu militants" of perpetrating the act.<ref name="Times">[http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzA1LzE5I0FyMDE0MDE=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom "Clinton goofs up on J&K killings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009224403/http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzA1LzE5I0FyMDE0MDE=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom |date=9 October 2006 }}, ''The Times of India''.</ref> Clinton's office did not return calls seeking comment or clarification. The publishers, [[HarperCollins]], later acknowledged "a failure in the fact-checking process" but did not offer a retraction.<ref name="Times" />

In 2010, the Lashkar-e-Taiba associate [[David Headley]], who was arrested in connection with the [[2008 Mumbai attacks]], reportedly told the [[National Investigation Agency]] that the LeT carried out the Chittisinghpura massacre.<ref name=hindustantimes>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=25 October 2010|title=Lashkar behind Sikh massacre in Kashmir in 2000, says Headley|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/lashkar-behind-sikh-massacre-in-kashmir-in-2000-says-headley/story-U1HSRGfXRKqZyzgeQoy1OI.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114013820/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Lashkar-behind-Sikh-massacre-in-Kashmir-in-2000-says-Headley/Article1-617459.aspx|archive-date=14 January 2011|access-date=20 March 2020|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref> He is said to have identified an LeT militant named Muzzamil as part of the group which carried out the killings apparently to create communal tension just before Clinton's visit.<ref>Jupinderjit Singh (25 October 2010). [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101026/j&k.htm#2 Chittisinghpura Massacre: Obama's proposed visit makes survivors recall tragedy ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116225028/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101026/j%26k.htm#2 |date=16 November 2017 }}. ''The Tribune, Chandigarh''. Accessed 20 October 2021.</ref>

In 2011, a Delhi court cleared Malik of the charges citing insufficient evidence.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 August 2011 |title=Sikhs' massacre in Chattisinghpora: Two Pakistanis acquitted |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sikhs-massacre-in-Chattisinghpora-Two-Pakistanis-acquitted/articleshow/9556146.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106033915/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-10/india/29871318_1_pakistani-nationals-massacre-sikhs |archive-date=6 November 2012 |access-date=20 October 2021 |work=The Times of India |agency=PTI}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Chattisinghpora, Pathribal, and Barakpora massacres]]
* [[List of terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir]]
* [[List of massacres in India]]
* [[Terrorism in Kashmir]]
* [[2002 Qasim Nagar massacre]]
* [[1998 Wandhama massacre]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Cite web |title=Incident Summary |url=https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=200003210002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127115749/https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=200003210002 |archive-date=2024-11-27 |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=[[Global Terrorism Database]] |publisher=[[University of Maryland]] |language=en}}

{{Kashmir conflict}}
{{Sikhism}}

{{Coord|33|43|48.12|N|75|14|41.06|E|type:city|display=title}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Chittisinghpura massacre, 2000}}
[[Category:20th-century mass murders in India]]
[[Category:2000 mass murders]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in India in 2000]]
[[Category:2000 murders in India]]
[[Category:2000 mass shootings in Asia]]
[[Category:Mass shootings in Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in India]]
[[Category:Massacres in Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Massacres of Sikhs]]
[[Category:March 2000 in India]]
[[Category:Massacres in 2000]]
[[Category:Unsolved mass murders]]
[[Category:Anantnag district]]
[[Category:March 2000 crimes in Asia]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents by unknown perpetrators]]
[[Category:Presidency of Bill Clinton]]
[[Category:Vajpayee administration]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Lashkar-e-Taiba attacks]]
[[Category:Massacres in India]]
[[Category:Violence against men in India]]
[[Category:Mass shootings in India]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents against Sikhs]]

Chittisinghpura massacre - Revision history

MartiAshley1795 at 13:34, 27 March 2026