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Farooq assures Sikhs of protection

Mukhtar Ahmad in Chatti Singhpora

The gay almond blooms mean little in Chatti Singhpora village of south Kashmir, where militants in army fatigues killed 35 people on Monday evening.

Fear is palpable in this picturesque part of Anantnag district.

"These killings have shattered my confidence. We were living happily in this village along with our Muslim neighbours. All of a sudden we are feeling insecure," says one Sikh schoolteacher. The teacher escaped miraculously by jumping and hiding himself in a house. He said the gunmen caught "hold of me first and, later, while they were collecting the people in front of the gurdwara, I managed to escape."

Says another villager, Manjeet Singh, "It is difficult to say who they were but I am sure they were militants wearing fatigues". He says two groups of militants appeared in the village around 7.30 pm and told the villagers that it was an army crackdown and that every male member should come out."

He adds "We had just finished our evening prayers and were coming out of the gurdwara. We saw the gunmen who asked us to line up outside the gurdwara. They checked our identity cards and later abruptly started indiscriminate firing from their automatic weapons. I saw many villagers fall; some managed to escape." The militants allegedly repeated the same gory procedure at the other gurdwara in the village.

The bodies lay in a pool of blood outside the gurdwara, villagers say. Late this afternoon, villagers collected firewood and the pyres were lit one by one.

One Sikh youth said, "The daring Charan Singh, a retired soldier, was among the dead. He was the first to come out of his home when the rumour last night spread that a crackdown had been mounted in the village. He came out assuring us that there was nothing to worry about."

As the smoke arose from the pyres, Sikhs from other parts of the Valley joined the locals. The Sikhs of Chatti Singhpora also began debating whether to stay on or migrate to Jammu. There were more voices in favour of shifting to Jammu.

"You see, for the past 10 years we never had a problem here. I think this place is now more dangerous and I feel we all must go," said Naseeb Singh.

As we talk before the gurdwara, troops and police suddenly moved to vantage positions. A senior police officer told the villagers that Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, the state governor and Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal were on their way.

Sure enough, the VIPs arrive and are escorted to the village gurdwara. One Sikh shout, "We will migrate to Jammu. There is no security here,"

Dr Abdullah tries to calm them.

"We won't allow you to migrate. We will provide you with tight security cover," he says. Prakash Singh Badal too assures all help and advised the Sikhs not to "act in haste".

But Charan Singh, an old villager, shouted, "It is odd that Dr Abdullah is telling us to stay back in this village when he himself came in a motorcade comprising of nearly 50 bulletproof vehicles".

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