The Chittisinghpura massacre refers to the mass murder of 35 Sikh villagers on 20 March 2000 in the Chittisinghpora (Chittisinghpura) village of Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, India on the eve of the American president Bill Clinton's state visit to India.[3][4][5]
| Chittisinghpura massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Chittisinghpora, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, India |
| Date | 20 March 2000 |
| Target | Sikhs |
Attack type | Mass murder |
| Deaths | 35 |
| Perpetrators | Undetermined[1][2] |
The identity of the perpetrators remains unknown. The Indian government asserts that the massacre was conducted by Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).[6][7][8] Other accounts accuse the Indian Army of the massacre.[9][10][11][12]
Killings
Wearing Indian Army fatigues, the killers arrived into the village in military vehicles in two groups at opposite ends of the village where the two gurdwaras were located, the unknown gunmen marched home to home by introducing themselves as Indian Army personnel and ordered the every male member of the household come out for security checks.[13] They ordered them to line up in front of the gurdwaras and opened fire, killing thirty-five Sikhs.[14]
Aftermath
The massacre was a turning point in the Kashmir issue, where Sikhs had usually been spared from militant violence.[15]
Shortly after the massacre, hundreds of Kashmiri Sikhs gathered in Jammu, shouting anti Pakistan and anti Muslim slogans, criticising the Indian government for failing to protect the villagers, and demanding retaliation.[16][17]
Following the killing, Syeed Salahudeen, Pakistan-based leader of the largest Kashmiri militant group Hizbul-Mujahideen, denounced the massacre, accusing India of it, and assured the Kashmiri Sikh community of the militants' support.[6]
Perpetrators
Survivors interviewed by journalists insisted that the perpetrators had looked and spoken "like people from South India" and had shouted pro-India slogans after the massacre.[9][12] According to Lt-General KS Gill, "[Indian] army officers up to the rank of a captain were involved in the 'fake encounter'. They kept visiting Chhatisinghpura for routine 'checkups'. After obtaining full information about the Sikh, they lined them up and shot them dead one day."[18]
In 2000, Indian authorities announced that Mohammad Suhail Malik, a nephew of Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, confessed while in Indian custody to participating in the attacks at the direction of Lashkar-e-Taiba. He repeated the claim in an interview with Barry Bearak of The New York Times while still in Indian custody, although Bearak questioned the authenticity of the confession.[19] In 2011, a Delhi court cleared Malik of the charges.[20]
In an introduction to a book written by Madeleine Albright titled The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006), Hillary Clinton accused "Hindu militants" of perpetrating the act,[21] which evoked outrage of some Hindu and Sikh groups. Clinton's office did not return calls seeking comment or clarification. The publishers, HarperCollins, later acknowledged "a failure in the fact-checking process" but did not offer a retraction.[21]
In 2010, the Lashkar-e-Taiba associate David Headley, who was arrested in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks, reportedly told the National Investigation Agency that the LeT carried out the Chittisinghpura massacre.[22] He is said to have identified an LeT militant named Muzzamil as part of the group which carried out the killings apparently to create communal tension just before Clinton's visit.[23]
In 2005, Sikh organizations headed by the Bhai Kanahiya Jee Nishkam Seva Society demanded a deeper state inquiry into the details of the massacre[24] and for the inquiry to be made public. The state government ordered an inquiry into the massacre.