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| 12 years on, Wandhama killers still at large | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 23: Twelve years on, the government is yet to fix responsibility for Wandhama massacre. On January 25, unidentified gunmen shot dead 23 members of the minority community in cold blood at Wandhama. The massacre triggered another migration of the pandits. However, till this day, the killers could not be identified.
The 27th night of the Holy month of Ramadhan, Muslims believe, is better than 1000 months. On this night Allah the most exalted blesses the people. In 1998, the blessed night fell on January 25. While people in rest of the world stayed awake to seek pardon to their sins, heavens fell on Wandhama, Ganderbal.
The people of this beautiful hamlet lived in total harmony. The majority community stood by the minority community during difficult times. In 1990 the Pandits migrated from Kashmir but the Muslims in Wandhama prevailed upon the minority community. They stayed back to share moments of grief and joy with them. But during the night intervening January 25-26, 1998, the Muslim males were in the mosques. Gunmen stormed the Hamlet and killed 23 persons.
Around 11.45 p.m wailing women came rushing towards the village mosque. And in a jiffy, the blessed night turned into a nightmare for the villagers. The cold blooded massacre evoked severe reaction across Kashmir. People demanded an impartial probe and severe punishment to the culprits responsible for the massacre. The age-old bonds of brotherhood and peaceful co-existence were further damaged. The abode of the saints witnessed yet another migration.
A 16-year-old boy (name withheld) was the lone survivor and eyewitness of the gruesome incident. He said: "A group of masked gunmen barged into my house at about 11:30 pm and forced the inmates to come out. I jumped out of the wall of my house. As soon as my father, brothers and sisters came out, the gunmen shot them one by one. They cried and begged for life but the masked men showed no mercy. A gunman spotted me and asked me to come out but I hid myself beneath a heap of saw dust stored in the house. They fired indiscriminately in the rooms and at the walls from all sides. Then they left thinking I too was dead. I could not identify them but they were speaking Urdu", he said. |
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