“It was an unprovoked firing by BSF on people,” says his brother, Muhammad Rafiq as he shows a picture of his younger brother at his home in Bijbehara town. “There were not even ambulances there to take away the injured. Many people died because of the delay in reaching the hospital.”
Many people who had received fatal bullet injuries that day died of blood loss as people couldn’t pick up the injured on time. “The BSF men fired on even those who would attempt to pick up the injured,” says Rafiq. “Firing continued for around 30 minutes.” The injured and the dead were then dragged in hand carts as ambulances were nowhere in sight.
Rafiq says their family was economically dependent on Mukhtar who worked hard at a young age to earn a living for his family. He used to earn well by collecting vegetables from the rural belt, his brother says, and then he would sell it in Srinagar and other towns. Rafiq’s close friend, Muhammad Iqbal, who was studying in fourth standard that year, was also killed in the BSF firing that day.
Rafiq says many survivors and eye witnesses of the massacre, especially young boys, are still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders in their town. He himself has to regularly consult a physiatrist to ease his stress disorder. “Recently when renowned physiatrist Dr Margoob held a free camp in Bijbehara, most of the people he treated for stress disorders here were either those who survived the massacre or those whose relatives had died in the massacre,” he says.
Altaf Ahmad Sheikh, a 9th standard student, was among the dead that day. He received a bullet near his heart. Sitting in his shop in the Bijbehara town market, his father says they filed many cases against BSF. “We didn’t want any compensation; we wanted the BSF troops to be punished as per their law,” he says. “We have spent around 6 to 7 Lakh rupees till now on the case but we didn’t get any justice.”
From a dusty cabin in his shop, he pulls put an old copy of a Urdu daily that date back to a day after the massacre. All over its black and white pages the pictures of the dead and injured are spread out along with the news of the massacre. Deserted streets littered with abandoned shoes of people can be seen on the streets photographed that day. “Those who would go to pick the injured were also shot at,” he says as he flips pages of the paper that date back to twenty years. “It was like a doomsday.”
Ali Muhammad Tak, an elderly man from the town, was also part of the procession that day. He was in the middle of the procession. When BSF troops opened fire, Tak ran for his life. He remembers a BSF trooper emptying a magazine in his direction. He received many bullets in his leg. Later, he found himself in Srinagar hospital where doctors told him that he will lose his leg. His right leg had to be cut to prevent infection from spreading to the rest of his body. He was in the hospital for three months that year recovering from his injuries. “I was injured at around 3pm but I reached the hospital in Srinagar at around 7pm,” he recalls. “The injured were even stopped from moving ahead at many places on the way to the hospitals.”
Another local resident, Noor Muhamamd Vaid, whose 18-year-old nephew Abdul Rasheed Vaid was among the dead in Bijbehara massacre, recalls people carrying around dead bodies in hand carts that day. Rasheed had received three bullets in his abdomen. He died on the spot.
very soon they will pay for each drop of innocent blood….in shah Allah!