Darkness Beckons

There is shock and anger among the survivors at Jammu's Rajiv Nagar slum, which was attacked by militants on July 12, leaving 28 people including women and children dead, and another 34 wounded. There were angry protests when deputy prime minister L.K. Advani and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah visited the slums. The slum-dwellers were cut up over the central and state governments' failure to protect Jammu from militant strikes. The militants struck exactly two months after the Kaluchak carnage and nine days before the commencement of the annual Amarnath Yatra, when there is a security alert throughout J&K.

The 1,000-odd families here were resettled by Rajiv Gandhi in 1988, at Rajiv Nagar, after their shacks were washed away by the swollen waters of the river Tawi. Most of the families were non-Kashmiri labourers. After the July 12 massacre, the families are terror-stricken with around 35 of them having even left Jammu. When Congress president Sonia Gandhi came here on July 16, to express solidarity with the victims and distribute relief to the families of the dead and injured, there were no takers in the case of five of the dead— their families had fled to Rajasthan.

The survivors are angry with the local police too, who, they say, did nothing to rescue them. "Five minutes after the terrorists attacked, the local police had arrived on the scene. We pleaded with them to fire back but they did not. Instead, the local Inspector, Kalu Ram, told us he did not want to die and that he wasn't bothered about us," says Satpal Singh, a slum resident. The terrorists continued the attack for about an hour but the police failed to react. Kailash Devi, 65, was one of those who escaped unhurt. But her wounds are deep as she points towards the blood-soaked clothes of her daughter Chanda and son-in-law Santosh, a balloon seller. Santosh rushed from the adjacent shack to save his wife and child when he was shot at. His wife was also killed though their four-month-old son survived with bullet wounds.

Three days after the carnage, the police picked up three suspects in the state—all locals who are being interrogated. "We are hopeful of a breakthrough. But at the moment, not much can be disclosed," says deputy inspector general of police Dilbagh Singh. Police chief A.K. Suri suspects the involvement of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

"We are referring to the LeT because the modus operandi and the nature of the attack suggest its involvement. Plus we had intelligence inputs that some Lashkar modules were trying to regroup in Jammu and involve some locals too." However, the Lashkar has denied any involvement and even condemned it. LeT spokesman Abu Huzaifa described Suri's allegation as "baseless and concocted".

While Jammu has in the last few months seen many terrorist strikes, the scale of the latest one has shocked the entire state. The militant attack also comes at a time when political parties are preparing for assembly elections. The aim of the militants seems to have been to spread terror and derail the poll process.