Title: Butcher of Anantnag
arrested
Author: Asit Jolly and
Shahid Faridi
Publication: The Asian
Age
Date: March 24, 2000
The Jammu and Kashmir
police has arrested Mohammed Yakoob Magray alias Guru Chath, the
Hizbul Mujahideen kingpin responsible for planning and executing
the brutal massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chhittisinghpura village in Anantnag
district on Monday night. A group of four to five other suspects
have also been rounded up for questioning.
According to information
based on the preliminary interrogation, Yakoob, who operates under codename
Zamrood and is a Hizbul Mujahideen hitman of the area where the killings
took place, acted on behalf of the Lashkar- e-Tayyaba. The Lashkar's top
leadership was apparently keen on carrying out a big strike during US President
Bill Clinton's India visit and had requisitioned the services of Yakoob
and his men.
The actual operation,
according to sources, was executed by about five Kashmiri terrorists, including
Yakoob. They were supported by about 12 heavily-armed foreign mercenaries
- all members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and a majority of whom are believed
to be Punjabi-speaking Pakistani nationals belonging to the Multan area.
The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba mercenaries were led by the group's south Kashmir
chief Abu Maaz. It has now been definitively established that Maaz is the
"suave, Urdu- speaking" man who, according to the survivors of the Chhattisinghpura
massacre, was seen taking swigs from a bottle of rum, and was addressed
as "CO" by the rest of the terrorists.
When the terrorists first
entered the village, dressed in military fatigues, it was Abu Maaz's soft-spoken
manner that convinced many of the victims that they were members of an
Army patrol.
The terrorist gang was
armed with one light machinegun and 16 AK-47 rifles. The terrorists had
asked the menfolk of the village to assemble near the gurdwara since they
had orders to conduct a "crackdown" - a term commonly used to describe
cordon and search operations by security forces in the Valley. However,
minutes later they opened fire indiscriminately and mercilessly killed
their unsuspecting victims.
It is, however, not clear
at present whether the decision to carry out a largescale killing of Sikhs
was a private initiative of Yakoob and his men, or was based on instructions
received from the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba leadership across the border in Pakistan.
Sources said there was
some evidence to suggest that the selection of Sikhs as targets may not
be in keeping with the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba's current line.
Nevertheless, it has
been established that the massacre was provoked by a desperation on part
of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba to carry out a "big enough" strike in time with
Mr Clinton's visit. And this objective was perhaps achievable at minimum
cost to Mohammed Yakoob and Abu Maaz's own cadres by targeting the Sikhs,
who had for years enjoyed a certain immunity because of their distinctness
from Kashmiri Hindus.
During interrogation
by Jammu and Kashmir police officers, Yakoob is said to have confessed
not only to the Chhittisinghpura massacre, but has also admitted his involvement
in the killing of pandits at Telwani in early February.
A resident of Anantnag
district, Yakoob has two other brothers - one a soldier in the Jammu and
Kashmir Light Infantry, and the other is in the Border Security Force.
Meanwhile, Union home
secretary Kamal Pandey said: "Mohammad Yakoob, 24, who belonged to Chhittisinghpura
village where the carnage took place, disclosed to police that of the 17-member
gang of terrorists from both outfits, most were foreign mercenaries."
He said Yakoob ran a
medical shop in the area before joining militancy one year ago. "With his
arrest on Thursday, the contours of this incident and the overall plan
of the militants in the state would be unfolded," Mr Pandey claimed. Yakoob,
after being interrogated by various security agencies, has been remanded
to judicial custody by a magistrate in Anantnag.
The home secretary said
intelligence agencies had given no specific report about the massacre but
admitted that a message from across the border had been intercepted which
indicated that Sikhs could be targeted.
Mr Pandey said security
has been beefed up and 60 additional pickets set up in the area. To a question,
he did not rule out the possibility of the terrorists carrying out the
gruesome killing to have "dramatic impact" on Mr Clinton's visit to India.
This is "an effort aimed
at ethnic cleansing underlined the nefarious political designs of the terrorist
groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir and their mentors across the borders,"
he added.
According to the home
secretary, the Sikhs in the Valley have been asked to organise themselves
into defence committees "and the government would give all possible help."
