1990 Gawkadal massacre

1990 mass killing of Kashmiri protesters July 2015 July 2015 Gawkadal massacre Gawkadal, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India 34.0748 74.8092 type:event_region:IN inline,title yes 1990 1 21 Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir Kashmiri Muslims Massacre, Mass shooting 50+ India Central Reserve Police Force The Gawkadal massacre, named after the Gawkadal bridge in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, where, on 21 January 1990, the Indian paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on a group of Kashmiri Muslim protesters.Schofield 2003 148 At least 50 people died, some from being shot and others from drowning.Mir Ehsan, Kashmir's first blood, The Indian Express, 1 May 2005.Schofield 2003 148 The incident occurred two days after the state went under Governor's Rule, with Jagmohan appointed as the Governor for a second time in the Union government's bid to control mass protests by Kashmiris. Background January 1990 was a major turning point for the one-and-a-half year old Kashmir insurgency, having been launched by the Pakistan-based Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in July 1988 under Pakistani sponsorship.Jamal 2009 pp. 129, 137: "By Spring 1988, Zia regime also started pressing JKLF to begin the armed campaign. JKLF didn't yet think the timing was right. But reluctantly agreed to set the Martyrs' Day, 13 July, as the formal start of the campaign. At this stage, there were 10,000 trained militants, working in some fifty units." However, the pro-Independence JKLF was not in Pakistan's interest.Jamal 2009 p. 137: "The ISI initially backed the JKLF only as a way to push its client, the Jamat-i-Islami, into militancy. Moreover, it had planned to replace the JKLF once Jamat-i-Islami could be pushed into the conflict." By October 1989, its secret service ISI, working with the Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir, brought together some of the key Islamist insurgent groups working in Kashmir under the banner of Hizbul Mujahideen. In a key meeting in Kathmandu on 14 January 1990, Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir was persuaded to take control of Hizbul Mujahideen.Jamal 2009 pp. 140–143Riedel 2012 pp. 39–40: "By setting up an umbrella group, Hizbul Mujahedeen, to unite the pro-Pakistan elements, the ISI gradually isolated the JKLF, cut off its aid, and took control." Henceforth, the Kashmir insurgency was to run along an Islamist paradigm.Sirrs 2016 pp. 159–160: "Like the JKLF, [Hizbul Mujahideen] was "overwhelmingly Kashmiri" as far as its cadre went, but it rejected the JKLF's nationalist agenda in favor of an Islamist one. What this meant in theory was that the party saw nothing that was doctrinally incorrect in joining and thereby strengthening Pakistan." An often-heard slogan was "Azadi ka matlab kya, La Ilahi lilillah [illallah]" ("What is the meaning of freedom? It is Islamic State").Shekhar Gupta, Militant movement holds Kashmir in a state of violent siege, separatism gets new legitimacy, India Today, 31 Jan 1990.The slogan itself was an adaptation of that of the Pakistan movement from the 1940s: Pakistan ka matlab kya, La Ilahi illallah. Concurrent to these developments, the Indian central government was going through a crisis. Rajiv Gandhi lost the general election held in 1989, and a minority government led by opposition Janata Dal under V. P. Singh took power, with external support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Singh appointed a Kashmiri politician Mufti Muhammad Sayeed as the Union home minister. A week later, on 8 December 1989, the JKLF kidnapped his daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed, demanding the release of jailed JKLF militants in return for her release. The government's capitulation to this demand strengthened JKLF and its "azadi" ("freedom") movement, while at the same time undercutting the authority of the state government led by Farooq Abdullah.Joshi 1999 pp. 34–35: "Processions and protests gained even greater popular support, till it now seemed that the whole valley was for azadi or independence." Following these events, the Indian government decided to replace Governor K. V. Krishna Rao.Joshi 1999 38 Under the pressure of BJP, the V. P. Singh government chose Jagmohan to succeed him. Jagmohan had served a previous term as the Governor in the State, during which the chief minister Farooq Abdullah was dismissed. Abdullah had held it against Jagmohan, and resigned from chief ministership ahead of the appointment.Joshi 1999 38–39 The state went under Governor's rule (the imposition of direct Union government rule).https://archive.today/20130122164107/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Focus-shifts-to-Raj-Bhawan-JK-heads-for-Governors-rule/332899/ Focus shifts to Raj Bhawan, J-K heads for Governor's rule, Express India, 8 July 2008.Farooq Abdullah is said to have resigned on "the midnight of the 18th" Joshi 1999 39. Jagmohan was sworn in as the Governor on the evening of the 19th Joshi 1999 39, which left almost an entire day when the state was run by only officials. Due to weather conditions, Jagmohan was only able to reach Srinagar early on the morning of the 21st to take stock of the situation and issue pertinent orders. Journalist Arif Jamal states that, once Jamaat-e-Islami decided to take over the leadership of the insurgency, it moved into decisive action, activating "a decade of planning".Jamal 2009 p. 143 Events 19 January From the night of 19 January 1990 through the early morning hours of 20 January, Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF conducted house-to-house searches in Guru Bazar and Chotta Bazaar, a congested locality in downtown Srinagar, aiming to find illegal weapons or evidence of support for militants.Everyone Lives in Fear: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir. Human Rights Watch. 2006. Some 300 people are said to have been arrested, most of whom were later released.Schofield 2003 148 The daily Alsafa News quoted locals alleging that security forces had molested women under the guise of search operations.Life Kashmir 2013-01-21 Gawkadal A Massacre, A Case https://kashmirlife.net/gawkadal-a-massacre-a-case-17813/ 2024-12-17 Kashmir Life Both Jagmohan and Abdullah deny any involvement in the decision to carry out the raid. According to Manoj Joshi, the search was ordered by the police chiefs.Joshi 1999 pp. 39–40: "The first act was initiated by the state's top police officers, Director-General of Police J.N. Saksena and Inspector-General of the CRPF 'Tiger' Joginder Singh. To 'welcome' the hardline governor, they instituted the long-awaited crackdown with searches in Guru Bazar and Chota Bazar areas on the morning of 20 January and detained some 250 youths for interrogation. That same morning when Saksena arrived in Jammu from Srinagar to brief Jagmohan, he did not mention the searches or their possible fallout. Perhaps he had misjudged the situation." The events saw the initiation of a mass revolt in the Kashmir Valley. Various reports indicate that Kashmiri Muslims were out on the streets shouting anti-India, pro-Pakistan and Islamic slogans. Mosques crackled with loudspeakers in the middle of the night, issuing slogans and playing pre-recorded messages.Schofield 2003 p. 148: 'The whole city was out. I was sleeping — it was midnight. I heard people on the road shouting pro-Pakistani slogans and Islamic slogans — "Allah o Akbar", "What do we want? We want freedom!"' recalls Haseeb, a Kashmiri medical student. (p. 149) In defiance of what came to be called 'crackdown' by the authorities, the people continued to come out on the streets: 'There were loudspeakers in the mosques, encouraging people to come out. Everyday, all day people were shouting slogans,' recalls Haseeb. 'Azadi, Azadi, Allah-o Akbar — Freedom, Freedom, God is Great' was broadcast from the minarets.Chowdhary Rekha Jammu and Kashmir: 1990 and Beyond: Competitive Politics in the Shadow of Separatism https://books.google.com/books?id=FSGBDwAAQBAJ 2019 SAGE Publishing India 978-93-5328-232-5 p. 73: 'The use of the religious places for issuing threats and intimidating the minorities was a reality of that time. To quote Wajahat Habibullah who was posted as Special Commissioner in Anantnag in 1990, "... Places of worship, like the one in Anantnag, where the majority went, were being used to issue threats to them [Kashmiri Hindus] over loudspeakers. I learnt later that these inflammatory sermons, and their reverberating public applause, were audio recordings circulated to mosques to be played over loudspeakers at prayer time." India Today described the mood in the Valley as one of open defiance: "mobs challenged the gun, defying policemen to fire at them". They chanted slogans "Indian dogs go back" and "Azadi ka matlab kya, La Ilahi lilillah [illallah]" ("What is the meaning of freedom? It is Islamic State"). 20 January As word of the raids spread on 20 January 1990, crowds gathered outside the Divisional Commissioner's office in Srinagar to protest the 'atrocities', and were tear-gassed.Mridu Rai Narratives from exile: Kashmiri Pandits and their construction of the past Kashmir and the Future of South Asia Sugata Bose Ayesha Jalal Routledge 2021 https://books.google.com/books?id=x6oLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 103–104 9781000318722 Organisers fanned out through the city and massive processions were initiated by the evening.Joshi 1999 p. 40: "Throughout 20 January, organizers fanned out across the city and from that evening, massive processions took to the streets demanding azadi, and chanting [slogan] 'Death to Indian dogs' and 'Allah-o-Akbar' ('God is great')". A curfew was imposed by nightfall. 21 January On 21 January 1990, as reports of arrests and alleged molestation in the Chotta Bazaar locality spread across Srinagar, thousands of people gathered to protest. Processions marched through various parts of the city, heading toward Chotta Bazaar. When the unarmed crowd reached the Gawkadal bridge, they were fired upon by the CRPF, resulting in the deaths of around 50 people and injuries to dozens of others.Schofield 2003 148 According to the Jammu and Kashmir security forces, upon approaching the wooden bridge a large crowd of demonstrators allegedly started pelting stones, after which the security forces fired on the crowd, leading to the death of several protestors. The police record mentions that "on January 21, a big crowd raising anti-India slogans was heading towards Lal Chowk and the security forces tried to stop the crowd near Gawkadal. Instead of dispersing, the unruly crowd started pelting stones at government buildings and security force personnel. The report ends without mentioning anything about the massacre that became the turning point of militancy in Kashmir." Indian authorities initially put the official death toll for the massacre initially at between 21 and 28.Dalrymple William https://www.nybooks.com/articles/21310 Kashmir: The Scarred and the Beautiful The New York Review of Books 1 May 2008 55 7 https://web.archive.org/web/20160201175847/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/05/01/kashmir-the-scarred-and-the-beautiful/ 1 February 2016 Certain international human rights organisations and scholars, however, estimated that at least 50. Journalist Tavleen Singh stated that over 100 protesters were killed.Schofield 2003 148 Youth Forum for Kashmir put the number of fatalities as 55.""Kashmiris observe 28th anniversary of Gawkadal massacre"", thenews.com.pk. January 22, 2018. Accessed March 31, 2025. Aftermath In the aftermath of the massacre, more demonstrations followed, and in January 1990, Indian paramilitary forces are believed to have killed around 300 protesters in total.Mirza, Waheed. Growing up in Kashmir's war zone. "BBC News", 16 August 2007. Human Rights Watch reported in May 1991 that, "In the weeks that followed the Gawkadal massacre as security forces fired on crowds of marchers and as militants intensified their attacks against the police and those suspected of aiding them, Kashmir's civil war began in earnest." MJ Akbar, editor of the Asian Age newspaper, said, "January 19 became the catalyst which propelled into a mass upsurge. Young men from hundreds of homes crossed over into Pakistan administered Kashmir to receive arms and training in insurrection Pakistan came out in open support of secession, and for the first time, did not need to involve its regular troops in the confrontation. In Srinagar, each mosque became a citadel of fervor."May 2025 No known actions were taken against the CRPF forces officials responsible for the massacre, or against the officers present at Gawkadal that night. No government investigation was ordered into the incident. Fifteen years later, the police case was closed and those involved in the massacre were never held accountable. See also Zakoora and Tengpora massacre Sopore massacre Handwara massacre Bijbehara massacre Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir Notes References Sources Jamal Arif Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir https://books.google.com/books?id=TNO5MAAACAAJ 2009 Melville House 978-1-933633-59-6 Joshi Manoj Manoj Joshi (journalist) The Lost Rebellion https://books.google.com/books?id=pS5uAAAAMAAJ 1999 Penguin Books 978-0-14-027846-0 Riedel Bruce Bruce Riedel Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad https://books.google.com/books?id=w3DQKuPzAXAC 2012 Brookings Institution Press 978-0-8157-2283-0 Schofield Victoria Victoria Schofield Kashmir in Conflict I. B. Taurus & Co London and New York 2003 2000 1860648983 https://books.google.com/books?id=rkTetMfI6QkC Sirrs Owen L. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert Action and Internal Operations https://books.google.com/books?id=_S-TDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 2016 Routledge 978-1-317-19609-9 Category:Indian war crimes in the Kashmir conflict Category:1990 murders in India Category:January 1990 in India Category:1990s in Jammu and Kashmir Category:Massacres of protesters in India Category:Massacres in 1990 Category:Massacres in Jammu and Kashmir Category:Massacres committed by India Category:History of Srinagar Category:1990 mass shootings in Asia Category:Mass shootings in Jammu and Kashmir