Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu: Two decade ago on intervening night of April 17 and 18, 1998, 27 people were hacked to death and burnt alive in Prankote are in Mahore tehsil then in Udhampur district. 1000 families had migrated and no one had returned even after two decades. It was one of the biggest massacres in the state then and had happened just three month after Wandhama massacre in which 23 Kashmiri Pandits were massacred.
Then union home minister LK Advani after visiting the site said :One just can’t see it. The massacre was executed to force migration of minority and it succedded.
About 9 LeT terrorists accompanied by about 5 local terrorist first started beating up family members of Mani Ram and Shoba Ram, then they were hacked and locked in homes. The terrorists then sprinkled oil on homes and set it on fire. Those who tried to come out were against pushed back in fire.
The carnage continued for many hours . There was no presence of security force. The reinforcement was sent next day and it trek many hours before reaching the site.
Many families are still living as migrants. They still fear returning to their homes . Some confess their land has been forceably taken over. Two-decade later these are forgotten people as if nothing had happened. They have gone off the radar of national conscience and 27 lives simply erased from dark history of state.
