Sajid Raina
Bandipora: Complete shutdown was observed in Ajas area of Bandipora district, Friday, to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Five civilians who were killed by Indian troops in 1992.
All shops and business establishments remained shut while very thin traffic is plying on roads. The call for shutdown was forwarded by local Masjid Committee and posters were pasted before hand to make people aware about the massacre.
Locals said that on that fateful day, Indian Border Security Forces personnel cordoned off Ajas town and announcements were made from local mosque directing people to assemble and Markazi Jamia Masjid Ajas.
Those days BSF was very active and ruthless. This Force is responsible for the major massacres across Kashmir. People assembled in the Markazi Jamia Masjid despite the inclement weather. We were paraded before the informers and some youth were picked up and interrogated on spot,” they said.
They said that people were wary of these crackdowns. “We couldn’t resist the actions of tormentors who interrogated our children in front of us. The cries and wails of these youth forced people to confront some of the security men. As some BSF men tried to hit people with gun butts, few youth hurled fire pots (kangris) on them. This infuriated the BSF men who resorted to indiscriminate firing. “Troopers failed to find any militant after crackdown. They directly fired upon the protesters, killing four persons on spot while two more died in the hospital.”
Five civilians were killed and four persons including two females suffered bullet injuries. The slain men were later on identified as Abdul Rasheed Ganaie (Driver), Muhammad Maqbool Rather (student), Abdul Rahim Rather and Muhammad Sultan Lone (Labourers) and Wali Rehman Khan (Government employee). Those who suffered injuries and were disabled included Muhammad Shaban Bhat, Ghulam Nabi Rather, Habibullah Hajam, Syeda Begum and Zoon Begum.
“It was like dooms day. After killing civilians, the BSF men dragged the dead body of Wali Rehman Khan and never returned afterwards. His family still doesn’t know what the BSF men did to Wali’s dead body,” the witnesses said.
Civilians who have been killed here on this day Their pictures are placed on the walls in the village And there are also posters on the walls On which it has written, Put Shutdown in the entire Area.
