1993 Sopore massacre victims’ families still await justice

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, justice continues to elude the families of of the victims of the gruesome Sopore massacre, even 33 years after more than 60 innocent civilians were brutally martyred by Indian paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in Sopore town on January 6, 1993.

The massacre left over 60 civilians martyred and more than 400 shops and other structures, including residential houses, gutted on this day in 1993 after Indian troops set the Sopore town ablaze. Despite the passage of more than three decades, the perpetrators of the heinous crime continue to roam free.

Locals, who witnessed the gruesome massacre, said that marauding Indian BSF personnel dragged a bus driver out from the vehicle and pumped bullets into the bodies of passengers killing 20 of them on the spot. “After killing the passengers, the troops started spraying gun powder, petrol and kerosene on the surrounding buildings and then torched them,” they said.

The Sopore massacre also drew international attention. Time magazine covered the incident under the headline “Blood Tide Rising”, reporting that at least 55 people were killed in the massacre.