Kashmir’s history is a phenomenon that is constituted by the traditions of bloodshed, massacres, public uprisings and resistance. One such day, etched deep in Kashmir’s memory is that of the frightening Beijbehara Massacre, which took place in the town of Bijbehara in south Kashmir.
The ruins of the abandoned houses of these families still stand, depicting the pain and suffering of the incident. One of the houses got totally damaged in the devastating flood of 2014.
The debris of the house is lying on the ground as no one could raise it again in absence of the heirs. However, despite the passage of many years, the memory of the dreadful event is still embedded in every Kashmiri’s heart. Everyone remembers what the residents of Bijbehara had to go through on October 22, 1993.
On the day, BSF personnel started indiscriminate firing on a procession from all directions in Bijbehara for one hour straight. They emptied their magazines and killed 53 persons on spot, injuring about 300 persons.
On October 9, 1993, a rumor spread through the town of Bijbehara in South Kashmir that a gun was stolen from a BSF man. The army could not do much about it but they sought revenge, and on October 22, they achieved it. Witnesses recount that locals had come out to protest against the siege of Hazratbal, the most important religious shrine in Kashmir.
People raised slogans against the siege and that was when army men opened fire on the peaceful protesters, resulting in the death of 53 and injuring more than 70.
The people of the Bijbehara area still commemorate October 22 as black day and hundreds gather at the ‘Martyrs Graveyard’. The ruins of these abandoned homes are a standing testimony to the massacre. Bijbehara is perhaps the first and only town in the valley where people have raised a memorial for the martyrs soon after the incident.
Mohammed Shafi Wagay (18) tried to lift the body of his brother who lay injured on the road as he was shot dead there. Ghulam Ahmad Pandit (70) tried to pick his son when he was shot dead. Sikandar Ahmad Thokru (46), a policeman, tried to help lifting a dead body, but even he was not spared.
Sara, a woman tried to help an injured by giving him water, the BSF men upon spotting her, shot the same arm which held the glass of water.
Parvez Ahmad Dar (14) tried to pick his cousin but was not able to as he too was shot dead.
Kamal Ji Koul was just mending the fence of a courtyard when he went looking for his brother. He saw many dead and injured on the main road and fell unconscious. Seeing some life in his body, an army man made him stand up. He pleaded for his life by saying that he was is a Hindu but the trooper responded, “There are no Hindus, here.”
Kamal was shot on his shoulder. Later, he ran only to receive a bullet on his back and fell dead.
Abdul Gani Hajam was holding his injured son in a vehicle that was moving towards Islamabad (Anantnag) district hospital. He picked up 6 other injured in the same vehicle. Army men stopped the vehicle for 20 minutes, resulting in excessive blood shed. All 6 died in the vehicle.
The memorial is a standing structure in the shape of a monument in the playground turned martyr’s graveyard in New Colony, Bijbehara. It has names of all the slain inscribed on it.
“When we tried to enter the hospital premises, the BSF personnel at the hospital gate did not allow us to. But my mother did not want her daughter to die from the lack of treatment. She tore her clothes and asked the security forces either to kill her or to allow us to enter the hospital,” an eyewitness recounts.
She said that after the BSF men saw the gravity of the situation, left the place and allowed them to enter the hospital premises. However, there was no facility available in the hospital and they were asked to go to the district hospital, Islamabad instead.
“We were on the way to the district hospital when we were stopped by the Rashtriya Rifles at the Padshahi Bagh, Bijbehara just 300 meters away from the incident. They asked us what had happened as if they were unaware of the incident. They asked all the injured to come out of the vehicle. But the people who were accompanying us were agitated and thus, started slogans in favour of Azadi which infuriated the security forces, who started firing towards our vehicle. We left the place, somehow,” she recalls.
At Khanabal, the vehicles carrying the injured people were stopped by the Army, again, for the want of identity. When they saw the injured in the vehicle they started enquiring what had happened.
On the next day, authorities imposed curfew in Bijbehara for several days to suppress the aftermath of the massacre. Thousands of troops were deployed in the town. Even photojournalists and press was not allowed in the town.
The township is unable to forget the 22 October incident despite the passage of two decades.