... According to informed sources in the state, it wan to save his government that Farooq belatedly announced, on April 5, a probe into the Chittisinghpora massacre of 36 Sikhs on March 19.

The Chief Minister ... had reasons to believe that some rogue group of an Indian agency was behind the massacre. He got this information a day after he assured a Sikh delegation on March 20 that he would announce probe the following day on the floor of the assembly which was in session. He made no such announcement Legislators ... were persuaded not to raise the issue ... in the national interest.

It was in the same national interest that the state government did not, for many days, agree to the public demand for the exhumation and DNA tests of the bodies of five men who the police claimed were foreign mercenaries responsible for the Chittisinghpora massacre Dr. Abdullah finally relented on April 5, in a bid to stall his government's dismissal ... The Sikh leaders in the State also share Farooq's apprehensions about those who were behind the Chittisinghpora massacre.

Some of them believe that the rogue group behind the massacre had targeted the Sikhs of Chittisinghpora to hurt the visiting Clintons, who are close to the Sikhs in the US. Sikhs form a significant portion of the fund-raisers and campaign managers, besides voters, of Hillary Clinton who is seeking election from New York .:.

According to (a Sikh) leader, their fears were confirmed when the chief minister ordered an inquiry into the police firing on protesters in Anantnag after seven civilians were killed ...

Some people in the Valley interpret the initial reluctance to exhume the bodies of the five people killed by the police at Panchaltran near Chittisinghpora as proof of the "hollow claims" of the security forces. "Whenever major incident happens, they pick up somebody from somewhere, kill them in such a way that the bodies cannot be recognised, and then claim that the terrorists behind that incident have been killed. The Special Operation Group is desperate to show results", said a retired government official.

He pointed out that various security agencies had claimed to have killed the same prominent militants at different times, at different places. For instance, within a month of the Badami Bagh cantonment incident Hazarvi chief of Lashkar-e-Taiyyba in J&K, was reported killed five times in as many locations. Similarly, Abu Muja of the same outfit was declared killed three times by different agencies .... Off the record, each government agency blaming the other for the goof-up ... After the Panchaltran killings by the security forces, people of the Valley have once again taken to the streets. "It can become explosive and worse than the early 90s", warned a high school teacher ...

This is not the first time that use of force by security forces is creating public discontent ... Some express the fear that the fresh wave of resentment may provide a new lease of life to the separatist movement. Perhaps also to the Farooq Abdullah government. (Source: Vijaya Pushkarna in The Week, 16 April, 2000)