1993 Lal Chowk fire

On 9 April 1993, at approximately 11:30 PM, troops of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) abandoned a base they had established at the Sanatan Dharm Sabha building within Lal Chowk, the main commercial centre of downtown Srinagar, Kashmir. On the morning of 10 April, the vacated building was set ablaze. The fire spread to neighboring homes and businesses, and the area was placed under curfew as paramilitary forces arrived and became engaged in a shootout that resulted in loss of life.

Accounts of how the fire started and who bears responsibility differ sharply. Jagmohan, then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, wrote in his memoir that a crowd incited by militants set the abandoned building alight, after which the fire spread and consumed over 50 homes and 260 shops. He described paramilitary forces engaging in a fire-fight lasting more than four hours, during which over 10,000 bullets were fired, and stated that over 260 people died from terrorism-related violence in this and related incidents in subsequent days.

By contrast, civilians and police officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch and other organizations alleged that the BSF itself set fire to the locality in retaliation for the earlier burning of the abandoned BSF building by local residents. An unidentified Jammu and Kashmir police official told Human Rights Watch that the BSF had withdrawn without notifying police, that a crowd had warned him not to approach the building because it might be mined, and that the building was already ablaze before BSF troops arrived. He further alleged that slow and limited government firefighting response allowed the fire to grow out of control, and that when roughly 100 BSF soldiers arrived, curfew was announced by megaphone before troops surrounded Lal Chowk and began firing indiscriminately. Other civilians alleged the BSF prevented police from rescuing trapped residents, that external latches on buildings had been closed to trap people inside, and that a hotel waiter said he saw BSF troops spraying buildings with flammable liquid.

As the fire spread, residents attempted to flee by boat across the Jhelum River. Eyewitnesses said security personnel gathered on the riverbank and opened fire on the boats with machine guns for at least 30 minutes; some occupants jumped into the river and drowned. At least 16 bodies were recovered from the river. Indian authorities instead stated that a boat carrying many passengers had capsized. No official government investigation into the incident took place.

In total, 59 homes, 190 small shops, 59 stores, two office buildings, five commercial buildings, two schools, and a shrine were destroyed. An estimated 125 people were killed in the fire and the accompanying violence.