A procession of over 1500 protesters marched towards the United Nations office in Srinagar calling for implementing a United Nations resolution regarding a plebiscite in Kashmir. A convoy of Indian army vehicles turned at the protestors when they realized the road ahead was blocked by the protestors, killing over 30 Kashmiris and injuring scores. A few hours later, another 21 Kashmiris were killed when Indian armed forces fired at a bus near Tangpora.

The following day, Amnesty International issued an appeal for urgent action on Tengpora and Zakoora massacres.

This day the British government sold Kashmir for a sum of 7.5 million Nanak shahee rupees to Gulab Singh Dogra – ruler of Jammu at the time, in recognition of the services rendered against Sikh kingdom in the First Anglo-Sikh war.

The sale laid the foundation for yet another crippling tax burden on the people as the ruler recovered the moneys paid in lieu of 84,471 sq. miles of land and 2½ million people – along with their hopes, aspiration, dreams and all that was essential for their moral, intellectual and economic growth.

Indian soldiers reacting to a landmine attack in the village of Mahand of Bijbehara district, stopped a bus at random and beat all the passengers, then later cordoned off the village and blew up three houses, killing five people, including three children.

Immediately prior to US president Bill Clinton’s visit to India, 35 Sikhs were killed in the village of Chittisinghpora of Islamabad district. India blamed Pakistani terrorists and on March 25 announced the killing of the responsible terrorists in a successful joint operation of the Indian army and J&K police. Around the same time, five men from three different villages went missing. Following widespread protests, the Indian State ordered the exhumation of the bodies for forensic analysis and DNA testing. The five burned bodies were those of the disappeared local men.

This case was the first of many ‘fake encounters’ by the Indian state. The case against the accused was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

7 Kashmiri Pandit villagers in Sangrampora village of Budgam district were killed. While many in the area believed the killings were carried out by an Indian army major who had been seen in the area a few times, the police filed a case and later closed it due to lack of evidence against the accused Indian Major.

24 Kashmiri Pandits, including two minors were killed by ‘unknown gunmen’ in the village of Nadimarg in Pulwama District.

After the Chattisinghpora fake encounter, on 25 March 2000, the Indian Army killed five men in Panchalthan-Pathribal village in Islamabad district, claiming that the victims were the ‘foreign militants’ responsible for the attacks. Official reports claimed Indian forces had, after a gunfight, blown up the hut where the men were hiding, and had retrieved five bodies that had been charred beyond recognition. The bodies were buried separately with no postmortem examination.

India has made use of laws such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act against many Kashmiri political dissidents.

POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) has allowed the Indian state to treat confessions made to the police admissible in evidence. Many reports surfaced of the law being grossly abused. Kashmiris, who were booked under these acts, were subjected to third-degree torture. Under duress, many of these detainees were pressurized to confess to committing a crime they were not involved in. They were forced to sign a blank paper, which was later turned into a confessional statement and produced in the court as evidence.

Even though these acts have been abolished in 2004, Kashmiris who were detained under them are still in prison. 29 Kashmiri pro-freedom activists have been languishing in prison for over 10 years under these acts.