The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) has reopened the investigation into the 1998 Wandhama massacre, in which 23 Kashmiri Pandits were killed. The agency is now pursuing fresh leads and reviewing old evidence and suspects linked to the case. Investigators are also working to identify terrorists and people who may have supported them in the attack.

The renewed probe is part of a wider effort to investigate long-pending cases involving targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits during the peak years of militancy in the Valley. The SIA has also intensified investigations into the killings of prominent Kashmiri Pandit leader Tika Lal Taploo and Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo.

The development comes after the agency reopened the cases of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat and writer Sarwanand Koul Premi and his son Virender Koul. Sources said the SIA carried out raids at several locations in the Kashmir Valley a few days ago in connection with the Wandhama massacre and Taploo's killing. The investigators are examining the available evidence and following leads that could help establish the roles of terrorists and their associates.

The Wandhama massacre took place on January 25, 1998, in Wandhama village of Ganderbal district. Heavily armed terrorists entered the homes of Kashmiri Pandit families and killed 23 people. The victims included nine women and four children. The killings took place on the eve of Republic Day and during the night of Shab-e-Qadr, one of the holiest nights of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan.

The case remained unresolved for decades. The SIA has now brought it back under active investigation as part of its broader effort to revisit cases linked to militancy that remained pending for years. Officials are looking at old evidence and possible new leads to identify those involved in the killings.

The renewed investigation follows significant action in other cases involving the killings of Kashmiri Pandits. In June, the SIA filed a 737-page chargesheet in the 1990 murder of Sarla Bhat. The agency named jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik as the mastermind in the case.

The SIA also carried out searches at nine locations in Jammu and Kashmir in August in connection with the killing of Kashmiri Pandit writer Sarwanand Koul Premi and his son Virender Koul. These investigations form part of the agency's larger effort to revisit unresolved cases from the late 1980s and 1990s.

The killing of Tika Lal Taploo is also under renewed investigation. Taploo was a prominent lawyer and the then Jammu and Kashmir BJP vice-president. Militants shot him dead near his residence in Srinagar in September 1989. His assassination was among the early targeted killings of prominent Kashmiri Pandits during the rise of militancy in the Valley.

The SIA has also stepped up its investigation into the killing of Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo. Justice Ganjoo had sentenced JKLF terrorist Maqbool Bhat to death. Suspected JKLF terrorists shot him dead at Hari Singh Street in Srinagar on November 4, 1989. Militants had also targeted him earlier in an attack on his residence.

The latest investigations reflect a wider attempt by the Jammu and Kashmir agency to reopen unresolved terror cases from the militancy period. Officials are examining decades-old cases and pursuing leads that could help identify surviving accused, terrorists and their associates.

The SIA's recent action in the Sarla Bhat and Sarwanand Koul Premi cases has already led to major investigative developments. These include the filing of a chargesheet and searches at several locations across Jammu and Kashmir. The renewed focus on Wandhama, Taploo and Ganjoo has now brought some of the most prominent unresolved killings of Kashmiri Pandits back into active investigation.