J&K reopens probe into Wandhama massacre of 23 Kashmiri Pandits
What's the story
The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) has reopened the investigation into the 1998 Wandhama massacre, a case where 23 Kashmiri Pandits were killed. The move is part of a larger effort to pursue long-pending cases of targeted killings during the peak of militancy in the valley. The agency is also intensifying its probe into other high-profile cases such as the killing of prominent Kashmiri Pandit leader Tika Lal Taploo and Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo.
Ongoing investigation
SIA raids several locations in Kashmir Valley
The SIA has conducted raids at several locations in the Kashmir Valley as part of its renewed investigation into the Wandhama massacre and Taploo's killing.
Investigators are now working to identify terrorists and their accomplices involved in these cases.
The agency's focus on this case comes after recent activity in other old Kashmiri Pandit murder cases, including filing a chargesheet against jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik for Sarla Bhat's 1990 murder.
Notable assassinations
Taploo, Ganjoo among high-profile targets
Taploo, a prominent lawyer and then Jammu and Kashmir BJP vice-president, was shot dead near his residence in Srinagar in September 1989.
His killing was among the first targeted assassinations of prominent Kashmiri Pandits amid rising militancy.
Justice Ganjoo was also a high-profile target. He was shot dead by suspected JKLF terrorists on November 4, 1989, after sentencing JKLF terrorist Maqbool Bhat to death.
Unresolved investigations
Renewed probes into historic cases
The renewed probes come as part of the SIA's efforts to revisit unresolved terror cases from the late 1980s and 1990s.
The agency is now pursuing leads that could help identify surviving accused, terrorists, and their associates in these decades-old cases.
This recent action reopens the investigation into significant unresolved killings of Kashmiri Pandits by the state agency.