Pathribal fake encounter: 21 years on, families still awaiting justice

19 years have passed since the 2000 Pathribal fake encounter but the families of the victims are still awaiting justice even as the case has been closed.

Anantnag (Jammu and Kashmir): March 25 marks 21 years since the 2000 Pathribal fake encounter but the families of the victims are still awaiting justice even as the case has been closed. The kin of the victims have been protesting to reopen the case and reconsider it.

On March 25, 2000, the army had claimed to have killed five foreign militants in the Pathribal area of Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir. The army had said they were involved in the Chattisinghpora massacre.

However, it later surfaced that the five people killed were local villagers who were dubbed as "foreign militants" by the army.

On March 20, 2000, 35 Sikhs were killed by unidentified gunmen in Chattisinghpora on the eve of the then US President Bill Clinton's India visit. And just after 5 days, the army claimed to have killed the five "militants" who they said were involved in the killing of 35 Sikhs.

However, the locals had refuted the claims and said that the five people killed by the army were not militants but ordinary local civilians. When relatives of the five missing men came out on the streets and protested against the army on April 3, 2000, the security forces opened fire on them, killing 8 people among them.

Families of the killed civilians said that they will continue to protest peacefully against the tragedy until justice is done.