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'I saw people lying in a pool of blood'

Nanak Singh had just finished his evening prayers and was about to leave the village gurdwara at Chatti Singhpora for his home when he was stopped by a group of masked gunmen. "Along with me other villagers were also stopped. They started asking questions and checking our identity cards." He was one of the Sikh villagers who were slain or injured in a massacre in the Kashmir valley last evening.

"I saw a few of them going inside houses and asking Sikh villagers to come out," said Nanak Singh, writhing in pain at Srinagar's Bone and Joint hospital. Later, he recalled, "Suddenly the gunmen opened fire. I saw people lying in a pool of blood. I too received a bullet in my leg. I tried to flee, but I couldn't. I fell down and fainted. I regained consciousness in Anantnag hospital where we were rushed after several hours this morning by the police."

"One of my neighbours Sartaj Singh died in hospital. Later they shifted me here," he said. Naseeb Singh, who accompanied Nanak Singh, said the militants later went to the Samadhan Hall, another gurdwara in the village, and brought Sikh devotees out. They went into other houses in the village and after bringing out the villagers fired indiscriminately.

Nanak Singh said some villagers, who escaped injury and death, travelled on foot at the dead of night to inform the local police who reached the village early on Tuesday morning.

In Srinagar Sikhs gathered at the Gurdwara Singh Sabha in the city centre, Lal Chowk, to discuss the situation. While the heads of all the gurdwaras in the valley left for Chatti Singhpora to console the bereaved and provide relief, Sikh protestors marched through the capital and forced the closure of shops and business establishments.

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