In village where 23 Kashmir Pandits were killed, 4 homes a reminder of dark night

In the village of Wandhama, located in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district, four homes stand as stark reminders of a horrific massacre that took place on January 25, 1998. The village, nestled among tall Chinar and walnut trees, was the site of one of the deadliest attacks during the militancy era. On that fateful night, militants in Army fatigues entered the village, assembled the Kashmiri Pandits in a single location, and opened fire indiscriminately, resulting in the deaths of 23 Pandits, including four children and nine women.

Abdul Gani, a resident of the village, recently met with his old neighbour Brij 'Batta', a Kashmiri Pandit from Wandhama. The two, who had both grown old, embraced, reminiscing about the time before the tragedy. The four remaining Pandit houses in the village stand frozen in time, weathered by time and neglect. Mohammad Haneef Baba, a 65-year-old resident, recalls the terror of that night, describing how the village's male residents were at the local mosque when the gunfire started.

He explains that most of the Pandit families had already left the village for Jammu, but four families remained, staying put despite the escalating violence. The massacre wiped out all four families that remained in the village; five of those killed were guests in Pandit households. The sole survivor was a teenager who hid in a house on the outskirts of the village.

The killings sparked a series of migrations, with some Muslim families leaving the Valley as well. Although the bond between the Muslims and Pandits in the village has endured, the four standing houses serve as solemn witnesses to the tragedy that unfolded 28 years ago.