When blood poured the streets

Gawkadal massacre is perhaps the first massacre in the history in which signals of massacre were given well before conducting the massacre. On the frightful day of January 20, 1990 Jagmohan’s first address as governor dumbfounded everyone. It was clear cut provocative address.

In his address he stated:” I have come as a nurse. I will not take any salary. I will just take rupees 1000 to meet my personal expenses. I have promise you a clean administration. But if anybody creates a law and order problem, Meray Haathon say Aman ka patta Khisak jaye ga (the cards of peace I’m carrying will slip away from my hands)."

It thus signaled clear warning to the people of Kashmir. And in less than 24-hours the threat was carried out in a brutal manner.

It was the chilling day of January 21, 1990. The whole city was under curfew, massive search operations were going on in Srinagar city by the government forces to trace down the Militants. In the meanwhile, dreadful news spread all over. The word was that numerous women had been molested and arrest of nearly 400 hundred people sent shock waves through the length and breadth of Srinagar. Young and old came out to register their protest.

DSP Allah Baksh- the killer

Allah-o-Akbar Kabeeran Cabrera (Allah is great; greater than the greatest).This slogan was chanted across Srinagar that evening. People gathered to protest against the incident.

Meanwhile, the peaceful protestors from various areas of Srinagar had reached Maisuma, shouting slogans. As the protestors reached the Gawkadal Bridge, the procession was intercepted by a party of J&K police and CRPF led by the notorious Deputy Superintendant of Police Allah Baksh.

The security forces opened fire without any provocation. This created lot of panic and chaos among l protestors and they scattered everywhere, and they were making their way through lanes, CPRF men were chasing the protesters.

An eyewitness account of this massacre said. “I had walked amid women thinking that they would not fire on them but CRPF men did not spare them too. Those who were just injured were again shot in head by the CRPF officer to make sure to kill them,” recollects Farooq Ahmad a survivor of the mayhem.

While everyone was running, people saw something that had never happened in Kashmir before. A CRPF trooper with a light machine gun (LMG) was firing indiscriminately on the unarmed people. Young boy Abdul Rauf Wani went to him and tried to snatch his gun. The trooper sensing danger emptied the entire magazine in to his chest. Rauf fell in a pool of blood, but not before he saved many lives of his brethren. Salute to this unsung Hero! 52 people were killed and about 250 sustained bullet injuries. As usual the official death was put to ‘21’. Police registered an FIR (NO.3/90) at police station Kralkhud against atrocious mob. But it makes no mention of the police and CRPF action.22 years on, the case has been closed and the culprits have been declared ‘untraceable’.

In the aftermath of the massacre, more demonstrations followed, and in January 1990, Indian paramilitary forces are believed to have killed around 300 protesters. 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.” MJ Akbar, editor of Asian Age newspaper, said of the massacre, “January 21 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".

The dreadful memories and pain of injustice continues to linger on the hearts and minds of the victims of this deadly massacre.