Bijbehara Massacre! What happened to the enquiry? The Bijbehara - TopicsExpress

Bijbehara Massacre! What happened to the enquiry? The Bijbehara massacre, in which 43 civilians fell to the bullets of BSF men, had triggered valley-wide protests, following which Government ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident. The unit of 74th Battalion of BSF involved in the firing was shifted from the area after the probe started. The enquiry report EN/BFC/93/23-24 prepared by the Enquiry Magistrate Bijbehara and submitted to the Government on November 13, 1993, concluded that firing on the procession was “absolutely unprovoked”. “The claim made by the BSF that they were forced to retaliate the firing of militants for self-defence is baseless and concocted. The security personnel have committed offence out of vengeance and their barbarous act was deliberate and well planned,” the report read. The report had indicted the then Deputy Commandant of the BSF unit, JK Radola, for “giving tacit approval for indiscriminate and un- provoked firing.” The Magistrate had recommended immediate dismissal of the accused BSF men who committed “this dastardly act’. “This should be further followed up with the initiation of criminal proceedings against them and every effort should be made to ensure that justice is done and maximum possible punishment under the law of the land is awarded to the culprits.” “The massacre was allegedly initiated and directed by JK Radola, who fired the first shot in the crowd followed by the indiscriminate firing by his men,” witnesses had then deposed before the magistrate. After strong orders passed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), 13 BSF men were charged with murder. However, the subsequent General Security Force Court (GSFC) trial led to their acquittal. The NHRC had sought to examine transcripts of the trial to ascertain whether the BSF had made a genuine attempt to secure convictions. However, the BJP government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had refused to share the transcripts. On November 1, 1993 the NHRC sent notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which controls the BSF for its response over the massacre. The Ministry subsequently sent to the NHRC a report on the incident based on the magisterial inquiry ordered by the state government as well as one based on the Staff Court of Inquiry ordered by the BSF, which claimed that disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against 14 BSF officials but no details were provided. On January 17 1994, the Commission, based on the government report, made recommendations that included immediate interim compensation to the victims’ families and that, apart from disciplinary proceedings under the Border Security Force Act, there should be parallel criminal prosecution proceedings based on the magisterial inquiry. However, the Government of India did not respond positively to these recommendations. Nearly three years after the NHRC had called for an action and on November 12, 1996, A K Tandon, then Director General of the BSF, informed the NHRC that “a General Security Force Court trial was conducted in respect of 12 BSF men involved in the incident,” but the results of the trial were “being withheld for the time being.” According to press reports, all those charged with murder were acquitted by the General Security Force Court. The Home and Defence Ministries refused access to the case files of the Court Martial to NHRC. In September 2000 the NHRC finally dismissed the case without dispensing justice to the victims and their families. “Justice has not been delayed but denied to us. For 20 years we have been waiting for punishment to the killer BSF men but it seems they are above law and enjoy impunity,” said Noor Muhammad Tak whose younger brother, Fayaz Ahmad, fell to the bullets of BSF men. “Our tragedy is gathering dust in enquiry reports.” Two days after the carnage, the BSF Commandant responsible for the massacre, SC Kokereti, claimed that 17 of the slain were found to be militants. According to these claims one of the deceased, 15- year-old Abdur Rashid Vaid, son of Abdul Hamid Vaid, was a JKSLF militant responsible for an earlier militant action in which an army Major, R S George, was killed. “However, the killing of the Major was carried out by Hizbul Mujahideen as earlier claimed by the army itself belying the BSF claims,” said a rights activist from Bijbehara. He said the BSF also blamed another dead, 11-year- old student Muhammad Iqbal Ganaie as one of the ‘leading figures of JKLF who was involved in many acts of militancy and extortion’. One of the slain was a cop from JK Police. In yet another example, he added, BSF blamed that “the deceased 16-year-old Kamal Ji, was also a militant.” “However, when they came to know that the deceased was a Pandit, the accusation was dropped,” he added. “Kamal Ji Tikoo was a young member of the only Pandit family that was living in Bijbehara.” Locals said despite severe restrictions, thousands of people in Bijbehara had participated in Tikoo’s cremation. “Irrespective of religion and caste people here protested against one of the bloodiest massacres in history of Kashmir,” said Ghulam Muhammad, a local resident. “It was a doomsday in Bijbehara” Pointing towards a park which was turned into martyrs’ graveyard at New Colony here, the residents said most of the young kids killed on this day used to play here and now they are buried in this park. “Most of these boys were good cricketers and used to play in the public park in the New colony, Bijbehara as the sports ground was used by the elderly youth,” said Abdul Rasheed Sofi, a resident who lost his nephew that day. “But on that day when there was no space left in the local graveyard as well as the martyrs’ graveyard, we buried these boys in the same public park where they used to play.” About 25 students fell to the bullets of BSF men that day. Forty-three innocents lost their lives while more than 200 people were injured. As the procession reached Gooriwan locality, the residents said the BSF men closed in on them from three sides and opened indiscriminate fire, killing at least 32 people on the spot. Later 11 more people succumbed to the injuries, taking the toll to 43. According to the doctors, most people could have been saved had the ambulances and medical aid been allowed to reach the victims in time. They said the BSF men even fired at the wounded inside the hospital complex, killing and injuring more people. #ak56