2006 Doda massacre

2006 Doda Massacre refers to the massacre of 35 Hindu civilians by terrorists in Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir on 30 April 2006.

Background

Prior incidents like the Wandhama massacre had forced majority of Hindu population of Kashmir valley to leave the area and seek refuge in Jammu and elsewhere. Doda, Jammu and Kashmir's second largest district, had the highest concentration of militants in the state-an estimated 200 of the 1,500 who are active.^[1]

The Attack

Two separate attacks took place that day in neighbouring areas. In the first attack twenty two unarmed Hindu villagers, mostly shepherds or their families, were lined up and gunned down by suspected terrorists in Thawa village in Kulhand area of Doda district on the night of 30 April 2006.^[2] The victims included a 3-year-old girl.^[3] 10–12 militants wearing army uniforms perpetrated the massacre. The doctor who was sent to do the post mortem examination suffered a heart attack on seeing the bodies and was admitted to the hospital.^[4]

The second attack in the neighbouring Lalon Galla village in Basantgarh area of Udhampur district, 13 Hindu shepherds kidnapped by suspected terrorists were shot dead on the same day.^[3]

The aftermath

The attacks were an attempt to derail the upcoming talks between Indian government and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.^[5] India blamed Pakistan based separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and called it "cross border terrorism".^[6]

In 2007, Australian government in declaring Lashkar-e-Taiba a Terrorist organisation attributed this massacre to it.^[7] The killings received widespread condemnation, including from President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the terrorists of carrying out ethnic cleansing.^[8]

References