Kupwara Massacre - 26th January 1994

It was on 27 January 1994 that 27 civilians, mostly traders of Kupwara town, fell to indiscriminate firing by Army men. After a lapse of around 20 years, justice continues to elude the families of victims. The survivors allege that the massacre was carried out by the soldiers to punish the people for observing shutdown on January 26. Memories of the massacre are still fresh in the minds of people and they are waiting for the day when the perpetrators would be punished.

“A patrol party of Punjab regiment of Army had warned the shopkeepers on the eve of January 26 of dire consequences if they observe strike and didn’t celebrate the R-day, next day,” said a local shopkeeper who survived the massacre.

“As the shopkeepers opened their shops on January 27, the soldiers came and opened indiscriminate fire from all directions, killing 27 people and leaving scores wounded,” he said and added that after the gruesome massacre, the soldiers “asked us to assemble in the ground and undergo an identification parade.” He said none was allowed to lift the bodies and carry the injured to hospital. “A boy died in front of his father, who begged the soldiers to allow him to take his son to the hospital. But they didn’t pay heed to his pleas,” the shopkeeper revealed.

After the incident, police registered a case FIR No: 19/94 under Sections 302, 307 dated: 27-01-1994 in police station Kupwara. The FIR reads: “In a criminal assault, the soldiers of 31 Medium Regiment who were on ROP (road opening party) duty led by field officer S Bakshi gunned down scores of people in indiscriminate firing in Kupwara market and its vicinity without any provocation.” “After 20 years of the massacre and registration of FIR, no perpetrator has been brought to justice. We demand that the case should be reopened and killers punished,” said the locals.

“We are waiting for the day when killers would be punished,” they added.

On January 28, 2003, human rights activist Muhammad Ahsan Untoo took the case to the Human Rights Commission of the territory, which then listed it for hearing on March 11. The order came after the Home Department of India forwarded to the Commission a report by the IGP of the territory’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that conceded that the Indian army had been involved in the massacre.