Srinagar, Jan 6: A complete shutdown was Sunday observed in Sopore town of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district to pay tribute to 57 civilians shot dead by the government forces on this day in 1993.
All shops and other business establishments remained closed in the town, while a skeletal movement of traffic was witnessed on the roads in the town.
Reports said that hundreds of residents offered congregational Fateha for the slain at the mosques in the town.
Members of the civil society and traders gathered at the martyrs’ graveyard and offered special prayers for the slain.
According to human rights groups, at least 57 people were shot dead by troopers of 94 BN Border Security Force (BSF) on January 6, 1993.
Soon after the massacre, they said, the troopers indulged in arson and set ablaze 400 shops and 75 residential houses from Main Chowk to tehsil office Sopore.
According to reports, on January 6, 1993, a BSF man was killed by unidentified militants at Sopore’s main market. In retaliation, a group of BSF personnel opened fire indiscriminately.
According to eye-witness accounts recorded at that time, the personnel sprinkled kerosene and gun powder on shops and houses and set them on fire.
