Template:Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir The Gawkadal massacre was named after the Gawkadal bridge in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, where, on 21 January 1990, the Indian paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on a group of Kashmiri civilians in what has been described by some authors as "the worst massacre in Kashmiri history".Template:Sfn At least 50 people were killed.[1] According to survivors, the actual death toll may have been as high as 280.[2] The massacre happened two days after the Government of India appointed Jagmohan as the Governor for a second time in a bid to control the mass protests by civilians.[1]
Background
Violence erupted in the Kashmir region of India Jammu and Kashmir in November 1989, though unrest had been building in the state since the 1987 elections, with widespread allegations of rigging by the National Conference party, with the collusion of the Indian government.[3] At the same time, Pakistan has been training and arming the youth of the Kashmir Valley for an insurgency.[4][5]
Following the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of Indian Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (later founder of the People's Democratic Party), the government decided to take a harder stance against the separatist rebellion.Template:Citation needed To that end, despite fierce opposition from the state government, Sayeed appointed Jagmohan, a known forceful administrator,Template:Citation needed governor of the state. As a result, the state government, then led by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah resigned in protest, and the state went under Governor's rule.[6]Template:Efn
On the night 19 January 1990 (or the early morning of 20 January),[7] Indian security forces conducted extensive house-to-house searches in Srinagar, in an effort to find illegal weapons and root out any hidden militants.[8] Three hundred people were arrested, most of whom were later released.Template:Sfn Both Jagmohan and Abdullah deny any involvement in the decision to carry out the raid.[8] According to Manoj Joshi, the search was ordered by the police chiefs.[7]
The night of 19 January also saw the initiation of a mass revolt in the Kashmir valley. Various reports indicate that Kashmiri Muslims were out on the streets shouting anti-India, pro-Pakistan and Islamic slogans. Mosques crackled with loud speakers, issuing slogans and playing pre-recorded messages.[9][10] India Today described the mood in the Valley as one of open defiance: "mobs challenged the gun, defying policemen to fire at them". They chanted slogans, "Indian dogs go back" and "Azadi ka matlab kya, La Ilahi lilillah [illallah]" ("What is freedom, Allah is the only god").[11]
As word of the raids spread on 20 January 1990, crowds gathered outside the Divisional Commissioner's office in Srinagar to protest the 'atrocities', and were tear-gassed.[12] Organisers fanned out through the city and massive processions were initiated by the evening.[13] A curfew was imposed by night fall.[12]
The massacre
On the evening of 21 January, a large group of protesters reached Srinagar's wooden Gawkadal Bridge. Security forces fired on the crowd, leading to the death of several protestors.[1] The police record mentions that "on January 21, a big crowd raising anti-India slogans was heading towards Lal Chowk and the security forces tried to stop the crowd near Gaw Kadal." Security forces fired on the protestors .
Indian authorities put the official death toll for the massacre at 28.[2] International human rights organisations and scholars estimate that at least 50, and likely over 100 protesters were killed—some by gunshot wounds, other by drowning after they jumped into the river in fear.Template:Sfn
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the massacre, more demonstrations followed, and in January 1990, Indian paramilitary forces are believed to have killed around 300 protesters.[14] As a Human Rights Watch stated in a report from May, 1991, "In the weeks that followed [the Gawakadal massacre] as security forces fired on crowds of marchers and as militants intensified their attacks against the police and those suspected of aiding them, Kashmir’s civil war began in earnest."[8] MJ Akbar, editor of Asian Age newspaper, said of the massacre, "January 19 became the catalyst which propelled into a mass upsurge. Young men from hundreds of homes crossed over into Pakistan administered Kashmir to receive arms and training in insurrection Pakistan came out in open support of secession, and for the first time, did not need to involve its regular troops in the confrontation. In Srinagar, each mosque became a citadel of fervor."[8]
No known action was ever taken against the CRPF forces officials responsible for the massacre, or against the officers present at Gawkadal that night. No government investigation was ever ordered into the incident.[8] Fifteen years later, the police case was closed and those involved in the massacre were declared untraceable. No challan has been produced against any person in court.[1]
See also
- Zakoora and Tengpora massacre
- Sopore massacre
- Handwara massacre
- Bijbehara massacre
- Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir
Notes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Kashmir's first blood, Indian Express, 1 May 2005.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kashmir: The Scarred and the Beautiful(1 May 2008).
- ↑ Ganguly, Sumit. Explaining the Kashmir Insurgency: Political Mobilization and Institutional Decay Template:Webarchive. "International Security," vol. 21, no. 2.
- ↑ Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert Action and Internal Operations. Routledge(2016).
- ↑ Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir. Melville House.
- ↑ Focus shifts to Raj Bhawan, J-K heads for Governor's rule. Express India. 8 July 2008.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Template:Harvnb
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Everyone Lives in Fear: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir. Human Rights Watch. 2006.
- ↑ Template:Harvnb
- ↑ Jammu and Kashmir: 1990 and Beyond: Competitive Politics in the Shadow of Separatism. SAGE Publishing India.
- ↑ Shekhar Gupta, Militant movement holds Kashmir in a state of violent siege, separatism gets new legitimacy, India Today, 31 Jan 1990.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 [{{{url}}} Kashmir and the Future of South Asia]. Routledge.
- ↑ Template:Harvnb
- ↑ Mirza, Waheed. Growing up in Kashmir's war zone. "BBC News." 16 August 2007
- Sources
- The Lost Rebellion. Penguin Books(1999).
- Kashmir in Conflict. I. B. Taurus & Co.