January 27, 1998, 1998, RESS RELEASE -- JKLF (UK-Europe)

Kashmiri organisations in the UK campaigning for self-determination today condemned the cold-blooded massacre of at least 23 Kashmiri pandits who were killed on Sunday night in the Ganderbal district 18 miles from Srinagar by unidentified gunmen.

As India prepared to celebrate its Republic Day, the Kashmiri state under its occupation was shocked by the news of the massacre of 10 men, 9 women and 4 innocent children belonging to the minority hindu community, commonly known as Kashmiri pandits. The general secretary of the pro-independence JKLF, Azmat A Khan, today supported the calls for an internationally supervised investigation into the murders and said that those responsible could not be counted as friends of the liberation movement in Kashmir. He said that who ever was behind this heinous crime has helped to strengthen the Indian case internationally and must be punished for this barbaric act. "Our sympathies are with the bereaved families", he said.

The JKLF chairman, Yasin Malik, has visited the scene of the massacre and has strongly condemned the killings as barbaric act by enemies of the movement for self-determination.

Last March, in a similar incident 7 members of the Pandit community were killed by unknown gunmen but no conclusive investigation has taken place. Many thousands of Kashmiri pandits have left the Kashmir valley, some in genuine fear of reprisal attacks by some groups who claim that the Pandit community has betrayed them and their movement for self-determination. Most of the killings have been blamed on India's 'security forces' who have targeted the local muslim population in the past.

Over 50,000 Kashmiris, mostly from the majority muslim population have been killed in occupied Jammu-Kashmir. India has maintained over 600,000 armed troops to suppress the JKLF lead popular rebellion which erupted against its rule in 1988. Ends