The 2000 Amarnath pilgrimage attack on 1 and 2 August was the massacre of between 89 to 105 people, with 62 others injured in at least five different coordinated attacks by Islamist militants in Anantnag district and Doda district of Indian administered Kashmir. [1]
Out of these, 32 were killed on 2 August in 2000 in a massacre at Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam. The dead included 21 Hindu pilgrims, 7 local Muslim shopkeepers and 3 security officers. 7 other people were also injured. [2] [3]
A total of 89 people (official count) to 105 (as reported by PTI) were killed and at least 62 were injured in five separate coordinated terror attacks, including the following partial count on the morning of 3 August 2000. [1]
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee blamed Pakistan for being determined to sabotage democracy in (then) Jammu and Kashmir. [5]
The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger geographical region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
Doda district is an administrative district of the Jammu division of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.
Amarnath Temple is a Hindu shrine located in the Pahalgam tehsil of the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is a cave situated at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,756 ft), about 168 km from Anantnag city, the district headquarters, 141 km (88 mi) from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, reached through either Sonamarg or Pahalgam. It is an important shrine in Hinduism.
Pahalgam, known as Pahalgom is a town and a notified area committee, near Anantnag city in the Anantnag district of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a popular tourist destination and hill station. Its lush green meadows and pristine waters attract thousands of tourists from all over the world each year. It is located 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Anantnag on the banks of Lidder River at an altitude of 7,200 feet (2,200 m). Pahalgam is the headquarters of one of the eleven tehsils of Anantnag district.
2006 Doda Massacre refers to the massacre of 35 Hindu civilians by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, India on 30 April 2006.
On 26 May 2008, the government of India and the state Government of Jammu and Kashmir reached an agreement to transfer 99 acres (0.40 km2) of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) in the main Kashmir Valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath Temple. This caused a controversy, with demonstrations from the Kashmir valley against the land transfer and protests from the Jammu region supporting it. The largest demonstration saw more than 500,000 protesters at a single rally, among the largest in Kashmir's history.
Amarnath Yatra tragedy (1996) refers to the deaths of over 250 pilgrims in 1996 in Jammu and Kashmir state in India due to poor weather. The pilgrims were on the annual pilgrimage (Yatra) to Amarnath shrine.
1997 Sangrampora massacre was the killing of seven Kashmiri Pandit villagers in Sangrampora village of Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on 21 March 1997, by unknown gunmen. While militants have been thought behind the killings, police closed the case as untraced.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Burhan Wani was the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist militant organization and terrorist group of the Kashmir conflict. He had become a popular figure amongst the local Kashmiri populace, having done so primarily through a strong social media presence, and was responsible for moulding the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir into a youth-oriented movement. Wani was a militant leader and had reportedly recruited numerous foot-soldiers through his personal efforts.
On 10 July 2017, the first Monday of the month of Shraavana, 8 Hindu civilian pilgrims on the way from Amarnath Temple in Kashmir Valley, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, were killed in a terror attack. The pilgrims mostly belonged to the Indian state of Gujarat. Eight people were killed and at least 18 people were injured in the attack.
On 20 July 2001, in the month of Shraavana, 13 people were killed and 15 other injured in a terror attack on a pilgrim night camp at Sheshnag Lake near the Amarnath Temple glacial cave shrine in Kashmir Valley in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, in two explosions and firing by militants. In a pre-dawn attack, terrorists penetrated several layers of security cordon and exploded two improvised explosive devices (lEDs), casualties included 8 Hindu civilian pilgrims entailing 2 women, and 3 Muslim civilians and 2 security personnel.
On 30 July and 6 August 2002, in the month of Shraavana, 11 people were killed and 30 injured in a terror attack by Islamic extremists from Lashkar-e-Taiba's front group of al-Mansuriyan, on Nunwan base camp at Pahalgam of the Amarnath Hindu pilgrimage (Yatra) to Amarnath Temple glacial cave shrine in Kashmir Valley in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the spate of attacks on Yatra in the third consecutive year, 2 pilgrims were killed and 3 injured on 30 July when terrorists threw grenades at a civilian taxi of pilgrims in Srinagar. Further, 9 people were killed and 27 injured on 6 August by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists' hail of bullets at Nunwan base camp at Pahalgam.
Panchtarni is a locality in Anantnag district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a popular pilgrimage and tourist destination on the way to Amarnath Temple near the Amarnath Glacier in Himalayas. It is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Pahalgam base camp and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) ahead of last halt camp of Sheshnag Lake in the north. It is a meadowland on the banks of eponymous Panchtarni River where five glacier-fed tributary streams meet in eponymous Panchtarni Valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains at an altitude of 11,500 feet (3,500 m). It is also the final helicopter drop off for the Amarnath yatra pilgrims, who have to trek the rest of the 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) journey either on foot or by mule from this camp.
Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation Rakshak, which began in 1990, Operation Sarp Vinash in 2003 and Operation Randori Behak in 2020. Other operations include humanitarian missions such as Operation Megh Rahat and operations with a social aim such as Operation Goodwill and Operation Calm Down. The Indian Army works in tandem with the other arms of the Indian Armed Forces and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir such as during Mission Sahayata or joint operations.
On 10 February 2018, at predawn, Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked an Indian Army camp in Sunjuwan, Jammu, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Six soldiers, three attackers and one civilian were killed and 20 injured including 14 soldiers, and five women and children. Notably, this attack coincided with the death anniversary of Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 Indian parliament attack. The attack has been described as one of the worst since the 2016 Uri attack. The man described by the Indian Army as the mastermind of the attack, Mufti Waqas, a commander in Jaish-e-Mohammed, was killed in an army operation on 5 March 2018 in south Kashmir's Awantipur.
The 2023 Rajouri attacks occurred on 1 and 2 January 2023, respectively at the Dangri village of Rajouri district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The first attack, a shooting, resulted in the death of four and injured nine others. In the second attack, an IED exploded near the same attack site, resulting in the death of a child at the scene and injuring five others. A second child injured in that blast died from injuries, raising the overall death toll to six.
The 2024 Reasi attack was a militant attack that occurred on 9 June 2024 in the Reasi district of the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Several unidentified militants opened fire on a passenger bus transporting Hindu pilgrims from the Shiv Khori cave to Katra, causing it to lose control and plummet into a deep gorge, followed by further firing at the crashed bus by the gunmen. Nine people were killed in the attack, and an additional 41 were injured.