The dreadful night of April 30, 2006 still remain etched in the memories of 47-year-old Gillo Devi, a survivor of Kulhand massacre in which 19 Hindus were killed in cold blood at two different hamlets of Ponchara and Thawa by a group of heavily armed terrorists in a landlocked Doda district.
Gillo Devi lost her husband, Jagdish Lal Bhagat along with eight year old daughter Sapna, a student of class two. She along with her elder daughter were airlifted several hours later to the Government Medical College hospital in Jammu where she survived and returned home to nurture her kids, shouldering all other responsibilities of her family. She is currently serving the UT administration. The scars of that fateful night still haunt her family and her children. The youngest of them all was two and half months old.
Sitting in front of a group of volunteers from Jammu, Gillo Devi recreated the entire scene.
"It was in the middle of the night around 12.30 a.m when I first heard a loud noise at my doorstep. As I got up and opened the door three heavily armed terrorists along with over one dozen villagers barged inside our home," Gillo Devi remembered. "They segregated us. The villagers were made to sit in one corner of the room and I along with my children were present in the kitchen. "The three terrorists were dressed in Salwar kameez. Their faces were covered with a scarf. They were not recognizable. One of them asked me for a glass of water. I took a jug and a glass. After quenching their thirst they handed me the jug. While I turned back towards the kitchen they opened a burst of fire. I fell on the ground after receiving a bullet injury on my right foot. The terrorists fired indiscriminately. My husband and eight year old daughter were among 10 people killed in the room".
Another survivor, Ajay Sharma told volunteers, "I was only 9 years old and had faint memories of that black day of our lives" . He said, "I was told by my parents that my grandfather Prem Nath Sharma was also killed by the same group of terrorists". He said the terrorists struck at two places around 2.10 a.m. "There was blood all over the place. The injured, with fatal injuries, were shouting for help. They were asking for water. There was no water. The villagers who reached there used leftover water in the soiled utensils to quench their thirst. No one could reach them in the dead of the night. The first team of security forces from the nearby village arrived there after 7.00 a.m".
Another survivor Bodh Raj Sharma, currently running a general store in the area told volunteers, "The sleepy hamlet in the Doda hills had turned red. In another neighbouring village another group of terrorists, dressed in army fatigue, had repeated the same drill. Sharma said, " it was around 11.00 p.m a group of armed terrorists directed the villagers to gather at the residence of a village head Gopi Chand". Initially we thought they were here to address us. As they were holding guns no one could raise a voice. We assembled there. He said I was one of the survivors present in the same house. "Us din ju hua bhagwan woh din kisi ko dubara na dikhaye" ( Whatever happened during that fateful evening I pray to God no one should face the same fate again). "There was no power supply in the area. It was pitch dark. Inside the house around two dozen people were present. Suddenly one of the terrorists directed the lambardar to bring earthern lamp. As he picked the same indiscriminate firing started". Sharma recalled, "I also fell on the ground and escaped the hit. I only received bruises on my hands and face. I was lying there in the pool of blood. Around 10 people were killed in the firing and nine others were injured". Sharma remembered the three terrorists were speaking Urdu and Kashmiri language and were sheltered by a local terrorist in the area. Later, they were killed by the State task force personnel. "Since then peace prevailed in the area. The Village defence committees were trained and armed with weapons to defend themselves", Sharma elaborated. "I cannot forget that fateful night. I saw villagers whose skull was punctured during the firing, another had his stomach blown away.The intestines were tumbling out. The terrorists had pumped three magazines on unarmed people inside the house of village lambardar Gopi Chand. He too was killed in the firing, Sharma concluded while praying for the victims of the massacre.
