Sopore observes shutdown on Wednesday to mark the 28th anniversary of massacre

57 Civilian were shot dead, 400 Shops and 75 houses were burnt down by BSF troops

Peerzada Tahir

Sopore, 06 Jan 2021: Today was the 28th anniversary of the Sopore massacre, but the memories of the horrific tragedy are still fresh for the eye-witnesses and the families of those killed on this day in 1993, reportedly by the men in uniform.

The witnesses recalled the episode, saying that it was a cold morning on this day in 1993 when 57 civilians were purportedly killed by the forces in this north Kashmir’s Sopore town, popularly known as the Apple town.

The incident took place after militants attacked BSF men of 94 battalions at Baba Yousuf Gali near women’s Degree college Main Chowk Sopore and snatched a weapon from a BSF trooper there,

Ghulam Rasool Ganai, a shopkeeper who was an eye-witness to the carnage said that “following the incident, forces went berserk and fired indiscriminately upon the unarmed civilians and set ablaze the markets especially the area from the main chowk to Tehsil Office.”

“It is hard to forget the horrific incident,” he recalls.

Ganai said that among the 57 dead civilians, ‘scores were burnt’ alive, adding that “marauding troopers dragged SRTC bus bearing registration no.(JKY-1901) driver out from the bus and showered bullets on the passengers, resulting in on the spot death of 20 passengers at tehsil road.”

As per Ganai, “the troopers later started spraying gun powder, petrol on the surrounding buildings, shops, and houses and set these establishments ablaze in which more than 400 establishments and 75 residential houses in and around five localities including Shalpora, Shahabad, Muslimpeer, Kraltang, and Arampora were turned into ashes. The buildings include some landmarks like Women’s Degree college and Samad talkies.”

Besides eye-witness, the families who lost their beloved on this day are still in utter shock as one among the family lost four of its members in the episode, The Shalla family at Shalpora who lost their four family members identified as 15-year- old Mohammad Ashraf Shalla, Ghulam Rasool Shalla, Sajad Ahmad Shalla, and Bashir Ahmad Shalla, one of the shalla family member said.

He said,”we had fruit business. A day before the massacre one of our fruit-laden trucks had got stuck in a drain near the main chowk. Four members of our family who were retrieving the truck on the day of the massacre had taken shelter in a shop when the BSF troops started firing at people. The BSF men entered the shop and killed  all of them.”

Tariq Ahmad kanjwal 55, a survivor and eyewitness of the massacre, was 27 years old then “the image of a burning shopkeeper emerging out of his shop and shouting hysterically has stayed with me all these years. His head was in flames. I remember BSF officer telling his colleagues not to shoot him as he will be dead soon. ” said Tariq kanjwal.

Tariq also remembers how Shaheen, the owner of shaheen studio a Photoshop, and his assistant, were burnt alive in the shop. The charred bodies of the duo were found hugging each other and they were buried in a single grave, hugging.

Human rights organizations like Amnesty International had condemned the killings and demanded justice for the victims. The sopore massacre also got published in “Time magazine” under the heading “BLOOD TIDE RISING” according to the magazine 55 persons were killed in the massacre.