J&K re-starts probe into 1998 Wandhama massacre of 23 Kashmiri Pandits :::: 10 women and four children were killed by terrorists on January 25, 1998

Investigators are pursuing fresh leads, including the identification of terrorists and over-ground workers, while revisiting evidence and suspects in several decades-old Kashmiri Pandit killings.  

The killings had taken place on the eve of Republic Day and during the night of Shab-e-Qadr, one of the holiest nights of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan in 1998. 

The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) has reopened the investigation into the 1998 Wandhama massacre, in which 23 Kashmiri Pandits were killed, as part of a wider push to pursue long-pending cases of targeted killings during the peak of militancy in the valley.

The agency has also stepped up its probe into the killing of prominent Kashmiri Pandit leader Tika Lal Taploo and the assassination of Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo.

The development comes after the SIA recently reopened the cases of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat and writer Sarwanand Koul Premi and his son Virender Koul.   

SIA conducted raids at multiple locations in the Kashmir Valley a few days ago in connection with the Wandhama massacre and Taploo's killing. Investigators are now working to identify terrorists and those who helped them in the cases and establish their roles in the attacks.

23 KASHMIRI PANDITS KILLED IN WANDHAMA

Heavily armed terrorists entered the homes of Kashmiri Pandit families in Wandhama village of Ganderbal district and killed 23 people, including 10 women and four children on January 25, 1998. 

The case remained unresolved for decades. The renewed investigation is part of the SIA's broader effort to revisit militancy-era cases that had remained pending for years.  

According to reports citing the lone survivor, a 12-year-old boy, a group of armed men entered his family's house asking for tea, then opened fire on the family and on neighbors. Among the dead - all Hindus - were ten women, nine men, and four children.

The US Govt had extended condolences strongly condemned the attack, and had called upon militant organizations in Jammu and Kashmir to cease all acts of terrorism.  

Wandhama in Kashmiri means ‘hot in winter’ - that is providing comfort to its people. 

There is an interesting story about how Wandhama came to be inhabited by human population. In old days gone by, it was a dense forest, full of thorny bushes called by Kashmiris as Krahdazand. Extreme poverty forced Mansa Ram Bhat and his brother, Ramchand to abandon their ancestral village Kaloosa in Bandipore. 

While Ramchand settled down in Manigam, Mansa Ram came to Wandhama.  

In 1990, when the terrorists put the Pandit community on hit list, one Narayan Bhat’s family took no chances.

It migrated along with eight other families of Wandhama. 

A big mob from Barsoo had came and entered Pandit courtyards. 

They had used abusive and provocative language asking Pandits to leave. Pandit Sudershan Bhat, who was among those killed in 1998 massacre also advised his son Dileep Kumar and his two daughters to leave. Dileep had received some threats. 

Only Sudershan, his brother and Mrs Sudershan Bhat stayed back. Dileep had met his parents last time in January 1996. 

His parent’s last communication to him was in the forum of a letter in December, 1997 in which they had mentioned that they would visit them by January-end. But that was not to be.

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