The Zukoora And Tengpora Massacre refers to the killing of civilians at Zakoora crossing and Tengpora bypass road in Kashmir on 28 Feberuary 1990, by the Indian Army.[1]
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In order to halt massive demonstrations by the people, who were to submit a memorandum to United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), Indian Army opened fire at Tengpora bypass and Zakoora crossing in Srinagar, killing 26 and 21 demonstrators, respectively.[2]
The Zukoora And Tengpora Massacre happened in the afternoon of March 1, 1990 protesting against atrocities done by the Jagmohan regime when a group of about 2,000 people decided to rush to Srinagar office of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to submit a memorandum.
Comprising young and old, the protesters, many of them clad in shrouds, were raising slogans for freedom at the Zakoora Crossing. In the meantime a convoy of five Army vehicles of the Maratha Light Infantry led by three Junior Commissioned Officers was returning from Sonamarg to Srinagar but found the road blocked near the crossing.
Initially, three Kashmiri policemen who were guarding the crossing told the soldiers to wait for sometime till the protesters pass. “This led to a heated argument between the policemen and the soldiers,”[3][4]
The First Information Report was lodged in Shargahri police station under FIR No. 67/1990.
Three Army vehicles were fitted with INSAS 7.62 light machine guns (LMGs)(INSAS were not inducted then in indian army and they are not 7.62 "fakers") and the convoy turned towards the demonstration, the soldiers opened fire. In all, 26 civilians fell to the soldiers bullets while 50 more were injured in the incident that later came to be known as the Zakoora massacre.[5]
The mayhem continued for more than two hours. None from the civil administration dared to come to their rescue. Only the locals and a few policemen rushed there ferrying the injured to hospitals.[3]
On the same day, 21 more Kashmiris were killed at about 5 pm by the Indian Armed Forces who fired at a bus near Tengpora, Bye-Pass. They too were unarmed. The dead included five women.[5] This came to be known as Tengpora massacre.
Next day, global watchdog, Amnesty International issued a second appeal for urgent Action on Kashmir pertaining to Tengpora and Zakoora. A detailed account appeared in the March 31, 1990 issue of the Economic and Political Weekly of Bombay, which reproduced the text of “India’s Kashmir War” by a team of four members of the Committee for Initiative on Kashmir.[6]
S. Mulgaokar quoted excerpts from the same report in the “Diary of a Recluse” in the April 7, 1991 edition of The Indian Express.
According to an official spokesman, as published in Kashmir Times on the next day of these two incidents, the then Governor Jagmohan had asked the Corps Commander, Gen M A Zaki, to look into the incidents but as a matter of routine no culprit has been punished till date.[7]
Army claims that the first incidence occurred when an Army school bus was confronted by the mob at Tengpora on 1 March 1990. According to senior officers at XV Corps Hqs the bus was provided with a small escort of guards. Near the Batmaloo crossing, a large number of processionists dismounted from their vehicles and tried to enter the school bus by seeking to tear down the protective wire netting fixed at the rear. Sensing trouble, the JCO fired a single warning shot. This was disregarded and the mob pressed on. Fearing that they might be overwhelmed, the JCO ordered the naik accompanying him to fire. Eight rounds were fired, seven by the naik and one by the JCO. Eight persons were killed. The mob dispersed and the children were safely delivered home.
While in the second incident, at Zakoora crossing, an Army convoy consisting of some five vehicles with three JCOs and twenty-five men was returning to Srinagar from Gund when it found its way blocked at the Zakoora crossing. The convoy was stoned, anti-India slogans were shouted and an attempt was made to snatch weapons from the hands of the armymen. At this, a JCO fired a warning shot which had no effect. Thereupon the troops opened fire in self-defence. Thirty seven rounds were fired and no one was killed. The mob scattered and the convoy returned to the base. The Press, however, reported twenty-two killed.
The Committee for Initiative on Kashmir however accused the Army of unprovoked firing on peaceful demonstrators, in both cases.[6]
The Act has been employed in the Indian administrated state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1990[8] and has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination".[9] According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to:
Army officers have legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecution, suit or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law. Nor is the government's judgment on why an area is found to be disturbed subject to judicial review.