Sopore: January 6, 2018 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Sopore massacre—in which 56 men lost their lives and six others were injured. The long arm of the law, as they say, has failed to catch those behind the carnage, the memories of which remain fresh in minds and hearts of people, especially the victim families and those who survived miraculously. 
On the fateful day, personnel from BSF’s 94th Battalion went on rampage in Sopore town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla di
strict, killing more than 56 civilians and setting ablaze 500 shops besides reducing nearly two dozen houses to ashes to avenge an attack by militants.
The Sopore Chowk area was burnt down alongside roadside areas of Shallporas, Baba Yousef Lane, Kraltang,Samad Talkies along with women’s college.
“I saw the destruction across Sopore. I still remember corpses were scattered and police was watching helplessly, some 15 civilians who tried to rescue their brethren were also shot dead by the BSF personal who burnt my father in his shop at main chowk spoor,.” said Bilal Ahmad, a survivor. He owns of Shaheen Studio,
“Ghulam Nabi Bhat of New Light Hotel shouldered 11 bodies and before he could carry the 12th , he too was shot dead.
“I cannot forget that horrendous incident till I’m alive, the troopers were on rampage; I lost two relatives in the incident. I wonder can doomsday be worse than it,” said another resident.
Moahmmad Abdullah Shalla, a resident of Shallpora Sopore, who lost four members of his family says, “On 5 January 1993, in the evening, we had brought a truck loaded with 400 boxes of apples from Handwara and before the truck could enter the Shallapora it got stuck in a manhole. Then we had to unload the truck to get it out but it was late night and we could not do it. Then next day morning, I along with my family members, our laborer went to unload the truck. It was about 9:45 in the morning, the firing by personnel of the 94thBattalion BSF began. I was outside the truck while my cousins were inside it. I ran for safety and took refuge in a nearby fabric shop. After entering shop, I heard shouts of BSF men saying “Jo jahan milayga goli maro, Aag lagao” “(Where ever you find any person, shoot them, set everything on fire). Then after about 30 minutes, the fire started.”
Those hiding in a shop beneath the Grand Hotel Shalla and adjacent areas were taken out by BSF personnel and where were made to stand in a queue and asked to run, he said. “As they ran, they were shot from behind but I managed to escape into Shallapora lane.”
Shalla is an eyewitness to the killing of Zahoor Ahmad Khan of Shallapora, a teacher by profession, who, he says was shot in the back while running.
The local residents recall this incident as one of the worst massacre in the history of Kashmir.
Another local resident of sopore, Tariq Ahmad Kanjwal, who was injured in the attack of 6 January 1993, said: “I heard the officer shouting to his men not to leave anyone alive in the vicinity. His exact words were ‘Hamara aadmi ko maara hai, kisi ko zinda mat chodo, jo jahan pe dikhega usko goli mardo (They have killed our men, do not leave anyone alive, shoot them where you see the)”, said Tariq who also lost his father to the massacre.
For three days people rummaged the debris for dead bodies and strong protest rocked the town for many days. Many charities came up but soon vanished. The insurance companies refused to give any compensation to the victims. The victims also knocked the doors of government offices but to no avail.
