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	The '''Gawkadal massacre''' was named after the Gawkadal bridge in [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)\|Kashmir]], where, on 21 January 1990, the [[India]]n paramilitary troops of the [[Central Reserve Police Force]] opened fire on a group of [[Kashmiri people\|Kashmiri]] civilians in what has been described by some authors as "the worst massacre in Kashmiri history".{{sfn\|Schofield\|2003\|p=148}} At least 50 people were killed.<ref name=IE>		The '''Gawkadal massacre''' was named after the Gawkadal bridge in [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)\|Jammu and Kashmir]], India, where, on 21 January 1990, the [[India]]n paramilitary troops of the [[Central Reserve Police Force]] opened fire on a group of [[Kashmiri people\|Kashmiri]] civilians in what has been described by some authors as "the worst massacre in Kashmiri history".{{sfn\|Schofield\|2003\|p=148}} At least 50 people were killed.<ref name=IE>
	[http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/69437/ Kashmir's first blood], ''Indian Express'', 1 May 2005.		[http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/69437/ Kashmir's first blood], ''Indian Express'', 1 May 2005.
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	[[Category:Conflicts in 1990]]		[[Category:Conflicts in 1990]]

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{{Short description|1990 mass killing of Kashmiri protestors by Indian paramilitary forces in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir}}
The '''Gawkadal massacre''' was named after the Gawkadal bridge in [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Kashmir]], where, on 21 January 1990, the [[India]]n paramilitary troops of the [[Central Reserve Police Force]] opened fire on a group of [[Kashmiri people|Kashmiri]] protesters in what has been described by some authors as "the worst massacre in Kashmiri history".<ref name=VS>Schofield, Victoria. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek00fuXVz1wC&pg=PA148&lpg=PA148&dq=%22the+worst+massacre+in+kashmiri+history%22&source=bl&ots=AtjRBUF6m3&sig=QsbpwO0PS1LWZYZFa59z85eKvgU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ODlPUN6CK5O2hAfu_IDYCg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20worst%20massacre%20in%20kashmiri%20history%22&f=false Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War]. London: I.B. Tauris, 2003, p.148.</ref> At least 50 people were killed<ref name=IE>[http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/69437/ ''Kashmir's first blood'']. ''[[Indian Express]]''. 1 May 2005</ref> (according to survivors, the actual death toll may have been as high as 280<ref name="wd">Dalrymple, William. [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21310 "Kashmir: The Scarred and the Beautiful"]. ''[[The New York Review of Books]].'' 1 May 2008.</ref>) The massacre happened two days after the Government of India appointed [[Jagmohan]] as the Governor for a second time in a bid to control the mass protests by Kashmiris.<ref name="IE"/>

==Background==
Violence erupted in the [[Kashmir]] region of India [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] in November 1989, though unrest had been building in the state since the [[1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election|1987 elections]], which some believed were rigged by the [[Jammu and Kashmir National Conference|National Conference]] party, with the collusion of the Indian government, to ensure the defeat of a coalition of Muslim nationalist parties.<ref>[[MJ Akbar|Akbar, MJ]]. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501021007-356124,00.html Exerting Moral Force]. "[[Time Magazine]]," 30 September 2002.{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615082907/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501021007-356124,00.html|date=15 June 2012|title=}}</ref><ref>Ganguly, Sumit. [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/sumit.htm Explaining the Kashmir Insurgency: Political Mobilization and Institutional Decay] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113101546/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/sumit.htm |date=13 November 2011 }}. "[[International Security]]," vol. 21, no. 2.</ref> Following the [[1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed|kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed]], daughter of Indian Home Minister [[Mufti Mohammad Sayeed]] (later founder of the [[Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party|People's Democratic Party]]), the government decided to take a harder stance against the separatist rebellion.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} To that end, despite fierce opposition from the state government, Sayeed appointed [[Jagmohan]], a known forceful administrator,{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} governor of the state. As a result, the state government, then led by [[Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir|Chief Minister]] [[Farooq Abdullah]] resigned in protest, and the state went under [[President's rule]].<ref name=express_shift>[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.</ref>

On 19 January 1990, the night Jagmohan was appointed governor, Indian security forces conducted extensive house-to-house searches in [[Srinagar]], in an effort to find illegal weapons and root out any hidden militants.<ref name=HRW>[https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/09/11/everyone-lives-fear-0 Everyone Lives in Fear: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir]. "[[Human Rights Watch]]." 2006</ref> Hundreds of people were arrested. Both Jagmohan and Abdullah deny any involvement in the decision to carry out the raid.<ref name="HRW"/>

==The massacre==
As word of the raids spread the next morning (20 January 1990), thousands of [[Kashmiri people|Kashmiris]] took to the streets in protest, demanding independence. [[Jagmohan]] responded by putting the city under curfew. That evening, a large group of protesters shouting pro-independence slogans, reached [[Srinagar]]'s wooden Gawkadal Bridge. According to the J & K police, on approaching the wooden bridge a large crowd of demonstrators started pelting stones, after which the security forces fired on the crowd, leading to the death of several protestors.<ref name=IE/> 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 Gaw Kadal. Instead of dispersing, the unruly crowd started pelting stones at government buildings and security force personnel."<ref name=IE/>

Indian authorities put the official death toll for the massacre at 28.<ref name=wd/> International human rights organisations and scholars estimate that at least 50, and likely over 100 protesters were killed—some by gunshot wounds, other by drowning after they jumped into the river in fear.<ref name=VS/>

==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.<ref name=BBC>Mirza, Waheed. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6947968.stm Growing up in Kashmir's war zone]. "[[BBC News]]." 16 August 2007</ref> As a [[Human Rights Watch]] stated in a report from May, 1991, "In the weeks that followed [the Gawakadal 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."<ref name=HRW/> [[MJ Akbar]], editor of [[Asian Age]] newspaper, said of the massacre, "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."<ref name=HRW/>

No known action was ever taken against the [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] forces officials responsible for the massacre, or against the officers present at Gawkadal that night. No government investigation was ever ordered into the incident.<ref name=HRW/> Fifteen years later, the police case was closed and those involved in the massacre were declared untraceable. No [[challan]] has been produced against any person in court.<ref name="IE"/>

==See also==
* [[Zakoora and Tengpora massacre]]
* [[Sopore massacre]]
* [[Handwara massacre]]
* [[Bijbehara massacre]]
* [[Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord missing|Jammu and Kashmir}}

[[Category:Conflicts in 1990]]
[[Category:January 1990 events in Asia]]
[[Category:1990s in Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Political repression in India]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1990]]
[[Category:Military scandals]]
[[Category:Srinagar]]
[[Category:1990 in India]]
[[Category:Massacres in Jammu and Kashmir]]

Gawkadal massacre - Revision history

Bot at 16:33, 24 December 2022

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>Toddy1: Reverted edits by Az 124 (talk) to last version by Zeex.rice