DODA, KASHMIR, INDIA: Violence unleashed by militants in the mountainous Doda district has claimed the lives of over 300 Hindus during the last seven years, defense sources said. Most of these massacres were the handiwork of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), who wanted to create terror among minorities and force their migration, sector commander of Kishtwar brigade, Brig G D Bakshi said. They strike in unprotected scattered minority areas, where security setup including that of police, Army and Village Defense Committee (VDC) is not there, Bakshi said adding most of these killings took place when villagers went to upper reaches for grazing cattle and other agricultural activities. The first massacre took place on August 14, 1993, when 18 Hindus were brought down from a passenger bus and shot dead at Sarthal forest area in Kishtwar, he said, adding it was followed by killing of six boys at Batholi (Gandoh) on September 18, 1994. The other major massacres included that of 17 Hindus at Barshal a on January 15, 1996, 15 people at Sarwadhar (July 25, 1996), 25 people of a marriage party at Chapnari (June 19, 1998), 16 at Channa-Thakari (July 28, 1998), 35 at Kalaban-Sharundi (August 3, 1998), 16 at Lihota (June 20, 1999), 14 at Qund-Phugal (August 1, 2000), 16 at Kotechadwal (February 10, 2000), 14 at Cherji-Badadhar (July 21, 2001), and 15 at Shrotidhar (August 3, 2001).
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