Many massacres have occurred in the Indian Subcontinent, some of which are well known, while others remain unresolved and unknown.

One such Genocide occurred in the year 1998 in the Himachal Pradesh district of Chamba, leaving the people of this divine land in trepidation.

Chamba shares a border with Doda in Jammu.

That was during a period of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, and infiltrations were common. Power contractors used to rub cream from Delhi to Srinagar, and people died as a result. Terrorists' intentions used to be in the clouds. Himachal Pradesh, on the other hand, remained calm. There was no such occurrence. Everything changed, however, in the first week of August 1998.

Let us begin at the beginning, with what happened on Monday, August 3, 1998. Terrorists from Hizbul Mujahedeen had targeted two different locations. They first entered Kalaban, where the terrorist group brutally murdered 26 innocent people. A second attack occurred in Satrundi, killing six people and injuring three.

When the people woke up in the morning, they were met with this heinous news. The most significant aspect is that the majority of those killed in this massacre were poor labourers. The only fault they had was that they were all Hindus. The assault occurred during the Minjar fair, Chamba's historical fair.

Terrorists who attacked the Minjar fair not only killed and injured Hindus, but also took many hostages.

They had tied them to a tree before gunning them down one by one.

Even today, it is referred to as 'Khooni Minjar.' Even today, when this fair is held, people tremble in memory of that moment.



The shocking aspect of this incident was that police and administration only found out about the bloodshed massacre 6 hours later, when two injured somehow made their way to Mansa police station after trekking 8 kilometres up a mountain.



A total of 35 people were killed.

The genesis of this bloodbath was the construction of Bairagarh-Satrundi road work going on there, which these arsons didn’t wanted to be carried out.