Current News Service
SRINAGAR
Abdul Aziz Parray still remembers how Indian troops set ablaze Lawaypora, Shalteng, Maloora and Zainakote (HMT) localities on 27 October 1947 when they disguised as Pakistani soldiers and gunned down all but 500 tribal men from North Western Frontier of Pakistan.
Parray family lives at Lawaypora since 1947 in Srinagar, 15 KM from Lal Chowk.
“I still remember people coming out from their dilapidated houses during the intervening dreadful night of October 26 and 27 after hearing high pitched neighing of horses. The horsemen were the Maharaja Hari Singh’s forces who had been retreating from Uri Baramulla after Pakistani Tribals had chased them away,” Parray, who is in his 80s, said.
“On October 27 morning, the Patiala Sikh Force marched through our locality and surprisingly on the same day during afternoon hours, Pakistani Tribals in dark green vehicles too marched through Lawaypora on Baramulla-Srinagar road,” he said. “The Pakistan Tribals were headed by a tall commander who was fully armed. People were shocked and surprised and they all started believing that Pakistan has controlled whole of Kashmir Valley.”
“Sensing trouble,” he added, “people from Lawaypora, Shalteng, Maloora and Zainakote localities fled from their homes.”
“The Pakistani Tribals were present in Shalteng and other areas on 27 October. Indian troopers adopted a different strategy, the strategy that left even local population befuddled and confused. They painted their armoured vehicles on the pattern of Pakistan and even swirled Pakistani flags on them. While marching through the roads, the Indian troopers even raised pro-Pakistan slogans and whosoever responded in affirmative to those slogans was put to death. In Shalteng area, where Pakistani Tribals were present in hundreds did the same folly. They took Indian armoured vehicles as Pakistani vehicles and were thus gunned down. I don’t know how many of Pakistani Tribals died in the Shalteng area but my memory is still fresh and I know that more than 70 civilians died in Zainakote and seven civilians lost their lives in Lawaypora, when Indian troopers set Lawaypora, Shalteng, Maloora and Zainakote localities on fire,” he said.
“Those seven who were killed in Lawaypora included the father-son duo.”
Aziz identified those killed in Lawaypora as Sona Ullah Sheikh, Ghulam Muhammad Sheikh, Muhammad Abdullah Sheikh, Abdul Samad Sheikh, Abdul Rahim Sheikh, Muhammad Sabir Sheikh and Abdul Satar Sheikh.
He said that only thing Sheikh Abdullah did that time that he provided two trees to each of the family head to reconstruct their houses.
