On the 13th of February a tragedy struck Great people in Sopore
On the 12th/13 of February a tragedy struck Great people
Indian forces ran amuck
It was a freezing winter’s day
All the people were kept a bay,
Troops were armed from head to toe,
The seeds of fear they had to sow,
There was a lot of terror, gloom and chll
Troops went out to shoot and kill.
People were gathered in a ground
Many a rumour spread around,
Suddenly the troops went on the rampage,
For India they wrote a dreadful page,
Weak people die a stray dog’s death
Brave people do not stop to count their breath,
In death they live throughout all time;
People sing their lore,
With rhythm and with thyme,
A chapter of timidity wrote a man,
He feared the prison and the chain,
He bargained for his life in pain
For the sake of his children and his wife,
For the troops he became a guide;
He took the troops to the hide,
There, hide a warrior with his guard;
Arrested by deceit and fraud,
Troops had fixed a price on his head
They wanted him alive or dead,
Taken to the college ground,
Locals heard his fatal sound,
Shot for his creed,
A glorious deed,
Shot too, was his wife,
They took her life,
It pains my every thought,
I shall remember the two with pride
This, my children shall be taught;
Don’t cast the thought aside,
Remember them both forevermore
Such great people turn the tide. (Source of poem Speaking Silence of Nazir Ahmad Shawl published by author house in 2009, USA)
(The incident happened in 1995 in the town of Sopore in Kashmir, when Ghulam Mohammad Mir was arrested and killed in a custody (fake encounter) along with a young boy Bashir Ahmad Bhat while Ghulam Mohammad Mir’s wife Khatija Begum was ruthlessly killed in indiscriminate firing of Indian troops on the bank of river Jehlum Chinkipora Sopore in 1992 October. She was providing Medicare to the injured boys who were shot at by Indian forces during a ruthless military operation in the town)
Ms. Shamim Shawl addressing the Commission under agenda item 8, began by referring to a pain which I deem as strictly personal. "My elder brother Ghulam Mohammad Mir was arrested by Indian occupation forces on February 13, 1995. A FIR was registered with the Police Station Armpora, Sopore, against 65th Battalion of Border Security Force (BSF). Mr. Gupta, Inspector Pathak and Balakram carried my brother away and killed him in custody. My home people received his dead body within twenty-four hours." An affidavit filed by Mala Qadir, son of Mala Khizer, resident of Gous Abbad Malroad, Sopore, stated, "I was sitting outside my house on Monday 13 February 1995. At 1.30 p.m., four military jeeps and one truck stopped at a distance of five hundred feet from my house. BSF personnel jumped out. Two civilians, Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Bashir Ahmad Bhat, were brought out. They took them to a-near-by-house belonging to Mala Muhammad and Alias Dakwala. The house was under construction. Within minutes, BSF personnel shot them dead. We trembled inside our houses. After sometime we saw the dead bodies of the two persons which were dropped in the truck. All the neighbours of the area went inside the house, we saw the blood spilled all over. The BSF personnel came back along with dead bodies and some high ranking officials. A video camera was used for taking the photographs. All this, I saw with my own eyes."
52nd Session heard painful testimonies of Indian terror in Kashmir
A delegation of Kashmiri human rights organisations from both sides of the cease-fire line addressed the 52nd Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights held in Geneva from 18th to April 26th, 1996. The members of this delegation gave detailed testimonies of crimes against humanity perpetrated by Indian forces against the innocent people of Kashmir.