A complete shutdown is being observed in this frontier district on 25th anniversary of massacre of 27 people, mostly traders, by army near old Kupwara bridge. A policeman was also among those killed while almost 38 people were wounded in the incident.
The call for the shutdown has been issued by Joint Resistance Leadership comprsing both factions of Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq besides JKLF led by Mohammad Yasin Malik.
Reports said that people including family members and relatives since early morning visited Martyrs Graveyard in Kupwara to pay tributes to the victims.
Shops and other business establishments are closed while traffic was off the road, reports said.
On 27 January 1994, people of Kupwara mainly traders had gone to visit the then Deputy Commissioner Kupwara to seek action against the army troopers involved in the manhandling of a religious clerk.
As they returned way back to main market, army fired indiscriminately upon them near Old Bridge Kupwara, Army killing almost 27 of them and leaving 38 seriously injured. Most of the survivors were handicapped for life time.
Following the incident, police had registered a case FIR No: 19/94 under Sections 302, 307 dated 27-01-1994 in police station Kupwara. However, as has been the case in many other cases, prosecution of the those involved remains to be distant.
