Chattisinghpora massacre

Who: 35 Sikh men of Chattisinghpora (also spelt Chittisinghpura), killed by gunmen in army uniforms whom Amnesty International called unidentified. In 2010 David Headley was reported to have named Lashkar-e-Taiba. One survivor, Nanak Singh, has described the night to the press.

What: On March 20, 2000, the eve of US President Bill Clinton's arrival in India, uniformed men with covered faces moved through the village, saying they were searching it. Some entered houses and brought out the men. In his account about 19 men were lined up facing a gurdwara wall, asked whether they played Holi and wanted a drink, and shot from behind, and the attackers fired again to finish any survivors before leaving with shouts of "Jai Hind". Nanak Singh, hit in the hip, lived; he lost his son, his brother, four cousins and an uncle. The toll is 35 in Sikh Siyasat News and Amnesty, and 36 in The Tribune.

Five days later, on March 25, security forces said they had killed five "foreign militants" in a gunfight at Pathribal, which Amnesty's 2000 release calls Panchalthan, and officials said the dead were involved in the killing of the Sikhs. Demonstrators said the five were ordinary villagers who had disappeared in custody. On April 3 seven people were shot dead at Brakpora when police fired on protesters demanding their bodies. The CBI, which took over the Pathribal case in February 2003, filed murder charges in March 2006 (Human Rights Watch), and DNA India names Brigadier Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brajendra Pratap Singh, Major Sourabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan. The Army closed the case on 24 January 2014 "for lack of evidence" (Human Rights Watch); in 2017 the Supreme Court issued notice on the families' petition (The Wire).

Where: Chattisinghpora, Anantnag district, south Kashmir.

Why it mattered: No one has been convicted. In 2010 David Headley reportedly told India's National Investigation Agency that Lashkar did it, to stir communal tension before Clinton's visit; survivors told The Tribune they had always suspected such a ploy and wanted more investigation. In May 2015 the J&K High Court told the state to consider a petitioner's representations and pass orders within three months. The petitioner's lawyer said nobody knows who killed them.

On 6 September 2025 a delegation of the 35 Shaheed Singhs Welfare Organisation, led by its chairman Jagjeet Singh, met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan and asked for a fresh probe, welfare measures for the families and a memorial. His spokesperson said he assured them that "a thorough inquiry will be conducted and justice will be served"; The Tribune notes this was an assurance, not a reported order.