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'Wherever they saw a turban, they fired'

Chindu Sreedharan, rediff Kashmir Bureau, in Srinagar

White sheets pulled to their chins, the dead in Saturday's slaughter lie in six unpainted wooden boxes at the Mehjoor Nagar gurdwara.

Around them are their slogan-shouting Sikh brethren. The 110 houses belonging to the minority community in this locality of Srinagar -- till yesterday unknown to the world, but today in the same league of notoriety as Chattisingpora -- have disgorged their occupants to flood the area.

Grief and fear are the overriding emotions here. Also, anger -- in near equal measures at the killers, believed to be militants, and the state administration.

"Wherever they saw a turban, they fired," says one from the crowd that quickly gathers. "Is it our sin that we have not harmed anyone?"

"We don't want to live here. We want mass migration," says another. "Hum bali ka bakra banne ke liye thayar nahin [We are not ready to become sacrificial lambs]."

It is less than 20 hours since unidentified killers sprayed bullets in Mehjoor Nagar, hardly four kilometres from Srinagar's nerve centre, Lal Chowk.

The dead are: Satnam Singh, Charanjeet Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Suraj Singh, Sumeet Pal Singh and Balwant Singh.

Five have been injured, two seriously: Kanwal Nain Singh, Satinder Kaur, Vikram Singh, Chand Kaur and Dharmender Singh.

Details of the killers' strike are not yet known -- there seems to be no eyewitness.

From what the inhabitants have put together from different sources, there were two armed groups. They attacked from two sides and targeted "any and everyone available."

"We don't want to cremate them here," says a youth, his voice betraying more anger than grief. "We want transportation, we want to take them to Jammu."

That, it would appear, is just a demand. Even as we speak, preparations are on for the last rites -- the wait is now for relatives from Jammu.

"Our roots are here, we have been here from the Maharaja's time," says Harmohinder Singh, an elder who seeks this correspondent out.

"But we do not want to stay here anymore," he continues. "Please convey it to India that we can't live here anymore."

A boy, he is not more than 12, makes his way through the crowd. He speaks in English, his expression serious.

"After the Chattisinghpora massacre, [Chief Minister] Farooq Abdullah had asked the Sikhs to stay back," he says. "He said he would provide us security. Can you tell me what security he has given us?"

Saturday's slaughter appears to be directly connected with the killing of Bilal Ahmad, a young auto-rickshaw driver, on Wednesday.

Allegedly committed by the Jammu and Kashmir police's special operation group, the murder had sparked off violent demonstrations in the city.

The media reported that two Sikhs had got into Bilal Ahmad's auto-rickshaw. That was the last he was seen alive.

Thursday and Friday saw demonstrations that turned violent. A four-day hartal was called, which was to end on Monday.

Observers feel the killings could have been in retaliation to the Muslim youth's murder -- a message from the militants.

The Sikhs of Mehrooj Nagar, however, say they have nothing to do with the SOG, that they are not part of the Kashmir struggle in any way.

"But there was a lot of tension after the murder," Vikram Singh, a Mehjoor Nagar inhabitant says. "We had informed the divisional commissioner about our apprehensions and also the media. They did not take us seriously."

Singh and his neighbours are deeply critical of the local media, who they allege contributed to Saturday's killings -- so much so that they roughed up a few members of the Kashmiri press.

They are angry at the state administration, too -- for not taking preventive steps and reaching the spot "two hours after the incident."

"The state administration did nothing for us, nothing," says Vikram Singh. "They could not even prevent us from being pelted while we were bringing the bodies back to the gurdwara."

For their part, neither Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Khurshid Ahmad Ganai nor Inspector General of Police Ashok Ban were available for comment.

Kanwal Nain Singh, 55, one of the five survivors, is in the surgical intensive care at the Sardar Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, Srinagar.

He sustained two bullet injuries, one in the chest and another on his leg.

The last rites for his 18-year-old son, Sumeet Pal Singh, will begin in a little while in Mehjoor Nagar, but he does not know that.

"We are building a new house," he says. "After my son, wife and I finished with our work there, we started out for home at 5.30, 5.45 pm."

The family stopped to pick up vegetables on the way. When they reached the alley leading to their house, a bullet hit him in the chest.

"I didn't feel any pain, I thought it was some cracker," he says. "Then I put my hand on my chest and felt the blood."

Shots followed. Kanwal Singh does not know how many more, but he remembers seeing a masked figure.

"He was wearing a jacket... he was a small person," he says. "I tried to run away and he shot me from behind, in the leg."

By this time, his son and wife had also sustained injuries. Kanwal Singh says he ran into his neighbour's compound.

"He got his car out and brought us all to the hospital," he says. "My wife is over there [he points with his chin to another bed, where Satinder Kaur lies]... She has three bullets in her stomach."

"And my son," he continues, "is in Saurau hospital. Mujhe umeed hain ki teek hoga [I hope he is fine]."

He is fine, this reporter tells him at a sign from a relative standing nearby.

Satinder Kaur, covered with a red blanket, moans in pain. She does not know about her son's fate.

[The last rites of the Sikhs were performed on Sunday under tight security.]

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