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| 20 years on, victims of Prankote terror attack still abandoned | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 3: It was in the intervening dark night of April 20 and 21, 1998 that Prankote in Mahore tehsil of Udhampur district witnessed a dreaded terror attack. Those were the days when the student community of Jammu was on the roads demanding establishment of Mata Vaishno Devi University at Katra and Agriculture University at RS Pura and also demanding a fair representation to the Jammu youth in the professional and technical institutions, including medical and engineering colleges. That black night, 29 members of the minority community, including 11 children, were burnt alive/murdered in cold-blood by a group of 14 terrorists.
It is a matter of regret that even after 20 years of the gruesome murder of 29 members of the minority community, some of the people of Prankote, including some survivors, continue to live in tented colonies.
"They burnt alive our 11 innocent children," recalled one of the survivors of the 1998 carnage Vidya Devi. Poor and unfortunate Vidya Devi had witnessed the carnage, as also the gruesome killing of several members of her family. She, along with many others, has been putting up at the unlivable Talwara camp in Reasi district.
Others at the Talwara camp claim that "by murdering innocent members of the minority community, terrorists wanted to cause migration of the minority community from the Prankote area and they did succeed in that as bulk of hapless and abandoned Hindu families migrated to Talwara and Pouni in Reasi after the deadly Prankote terror attack".
They say that "they would not return to Prankote as the memories of the carnage were still too fresh to be forgotten and memories of the murder and torture of our familiy members and relatives continue to haunt our minds. We have not forgotten the kind of barbarities terrorists inflicted upon us. We will return only if we are properly rehabilitated and compensated and provided foolproof security cover".
"We were hoping that the rise to power of the BJP at J&K would help redress our grievances and we will be properly rehabilitated and compensated, but nothing of the sort has happened." regretted another migrant at Talwara. It would be only an act of humanity if the authorities in the state and at the centre turn towards the migrants of Talwara, listen to their woeful tales and redress their genuine grievances. |
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