SRINAGAR (Kashmir English): The memories of Chotta Bazaar carnage, one of the most brutal massacres carried out by Indian troops in Srinagar in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) still haunt the Kashmiris even after the passage of 34 years.
It was on June 11, 1991 when Indian troops associated with paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force martyred 32 innocent civilians including women and children in Srinagar’s Chotta Bazaar in cold blood.
A report released by Kashmir Media Service on the completion of 34 years to the deadly massacre said, the CRPF troops went berserk after an alleged clash with unknown attackers at Zainakadal in the city.
The troops opened indiscriminate fire with their automatic weapons all the way from their camp at Syed Mansoor to Chotta Bazaar in the densely populated downtown area of Srinagar.
At least 32 Kashmiris were killed and 22 others were injured in the carnage. The bullets hit shopkeepers, passers-by, a 75-year-old woman and a 10-year-old child.
Horrific atrocities in occupied Kashmir
The Chotta Bazaar massacre remains one of the most horrific atrocities in IIOJK’s blood-soaked history and the wounds of the carnage remain fresh in Kashmiris’ collective memory, the report said. The victim families still await justice, decades after the bloodbath.
Since 1990, Indian forces’ personnel have unleashed dozens of massacres, targeting innocent Kashmiris and the massacres like Chotta Bazaar are part of India’s strategy to crush Kashmiris’ true demand for plebiscite.
However, the report said, bold and resilient Kashmiris are determined to carry forward their freedom struggle till it reaches its logical conclusion.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas in a statement in Srinagar while paying homage to the martyrs of Chotta Bazaar said no power on earth can defeat the Kashmiris’ resolve for right to self-determination.
It urged the United Nations to take cognizance of Indian state terrorism in IIOJK and play a role in granting the Kashmiris their inalienable right guaranteed by the UN Security Council.
Meanwhile, people visited the graveyard in Srinagar and paid rich tributes to the martyrs of Kashmir.
