SIA to Reopen Cases Into Killings of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims in the 1990s in Jammu and Kashmir

The inquiry into the assassinations of well-known people in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s, when the armed insurgency first started in the Valley, is about to be reopened by the investigative authorities.

According to sources, the instances have been located and will shortly be looked at, during which time witnesses will also be invited to come forward. The action was taken after the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police opened an investigation into the murder of retired judge and Kashmiri Pandit Neelkanth Ganjoo, who was killed on November 4, 1989, by terrorists.

Although the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) organization was held responsible for the murder, no one was ever apprehended.

Several further instances are being reopened. About 10 incidents, including those involving Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke to News18.

The insider said, “This is being done to uncover the larger criminal conspiracy behind these killings.”

The retired judge was murdered, and SIA has placed a public notice in regional media seeking anybody with knowledge of the facts or circumstances to come forward and provide any account of what happened.

The SIA detained two Srinagar residents in May of this year who were reportedly responsible for the 1990 killing of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq at his Nigeen home.

The SIA said they had disappeared since May 21, 1990, and had vanished. The pair, according to the agency, had been hiding out in Nepal and Pakistan, among other locations, until sneaking back to Kashmir a few years ago.

Maqbool Bhat, an ideologist and co-founder of the JKLF, was given a death sentence by then-Judge Neelkanth in September 1968. The Supreme Court affirmed this verdict in 1982. For the 1966 murder of police CID officer Amar Chand, Maqbool received the death penalty. After retiring, the former judge was assassinated by JKLF insurgents in 1990. Bhat, on the other hand, was executed by hanging at Delhi’s Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984.

The SIA has issued an appeal for anyone with knowledge of the facts or circumstances surrounding the murder of retired judge Neelkanth Ganjoo to come forward and provide any information that may help the investigation of the case. This is done in an effort to uncover the larger criminal conspiracy that led to Ganjoo’s death thirty years ago.