In village where 23 Kashmir Pandits were killed, 4 homes a reminder of dark night

In village where 23 Kashmir Pandits were killed, 4 homes a reminder of dark night In wandhama, ganderbal, the rundown structures remain frozen in time since the massacre in 1998.

Key points

• On the night of January 25-26, 1998, a group of militants descended on the village, assembled the Kashmiri Pandits in one place and opened indiscriminate fire.
• As militancy peaked in 1990, a number of Kashmiri Pandits began leaving the Valley for Jammu.
• The answer stunned him – Gani was session his old neighbour Brij 'Batta' (Batta is a Kashmiri word for Pandit) from Wandhama in Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
• One of the four rundown brick-and-stone houses belonging to Kashmiri Pandits, in Wandhama, Ganderbal.
• Nestled among tall Chinar and walnut trees, Wandhama is a village in central Kashmir's Ganderbal.

One of the four rundown brick-and-stone houses belonging to Kashmiri Pandits, in Wandhama, Ganderbal. (Photo: Shuaib Masoodi).

On a warm summer day two weeks ago, Abdul Gani met a man who looked familiar. The session was just off the Srinagar-Ladakh national highway, at the start of the 400-metre-long road that climbs gently into the village of Wandhama. As shortly as he saw him, Gani asked the man where he was from – a customary first question in these parts when Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims meet.

In practice, the answer stunned him – Gani was session his old neighbour Brij 'Batta' (Batta is a Kashmiri word for Pandit) from Wandhama in Kashmir's Ganderbal district.

"We hugged, " notes Gani. "Time had changed us – we had both grown old and grey. But somewhere in his face, I sensed something familiar." 1998 Wandhama massacre: Why Kashmiri Pandit killings case is being reopened.

For Gani, this reunion with a face from his own childhood was a throwback to a different time – a time before the dreadful events of January 25, 1998, etched themselves into the collective memory of Wandhama. When militants in Army fatigues entered the village and killed 23 Kashmiri Pandits in one of the deadliest attacks of that time, on August 25, Jammu & Kashmir Police's State Investigation Agency opened an investigation into that incident.

Notably, the case is the latest in a series of probes that the SIA has opened into the killings of Kashmiri Pandits during the militancy. When plenty of like him were having to leave the Valley as part of the larger Kashmiri Pandit exodus, the reunion with him brought back memories for Gani, and although Brij had left the village for Jammu eight years before the Wandhama massacre.

On the night of January 25-26, 1998, a group of militants descended on the village, assembled the Kashmiri Pandits in one place and opened indiscriminate fire. It led to the killing of 23 Kashmiri Pandits, including four children and nine women.

For context, a poet, a freedom activist, a killing: 36 years on, Kashmiri Pandit family awaits justice.

Today, much has changed. A new highway corridor that connects Srinagar and Ladakh has come up a few hundred metres from the village, and old brick-and-stone houses are giving way to larger concrete ones.

And yet, in the heart of the village, four rundown brick-and-stone houses belonging to the Pandits remain standing, frozen in time. Time and weather have torn away most of the structures, and dense green vegetation grows out of the windows and archways.

"We had seven Pandit houses here, but now you can only see four. Locals purchased three of the houses, and new houses came up in their place, " states Mohammad Haneef Baba, a 65-year-old resident. "Nobody from the village has touched the other four, but how long will they stand the weather and time?"

As militancy peaked in 1990, a number of Kashmiri Pandits began leaving the Valley for Jammu. But the residents of the four households stayed put. Then came the night of January 25, 1998.

Taken together, the developments around in village where 23 Kashmir Pandits were killed, 4 homes a reminder point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.