At least 53 people are reported to have been killed in Sopore, Kashmir, on 6 January 1993 by members of the paramilitary Border Security Force who went on a rampage in retaliation for the killing of one of their men. Civilians, including women and children, were shot or burned to death and houses and shops were set on fire. The dead included a local press photographer and four people in his studio, seven shopkeepers and a bus driver and his fifteen passengers. A government inquiry into the events in Sopore has been announced and ex-gratia payments have reportedly been promised to relatives of those killed. AI is concerned that the official investigation, to be conducted by the State Governor, lacks the independence required for an effective, impartial inquiry.
