Name: Omkar Nath Raina
Father’s Name: Gwashlal Raina
Date of Birth: 13 June 1949
Date of Assassination: 11 May 1990
Residence: Devi-angan, Srinagar
Survived by: Wife , Daughter who was just (9) years old then, Mother

Among the many unsung protectors of Kashmir’s ancient heritage, Omkar Nath Raina of Devi-angan stands out as a man who refused to look away while the sacred land around the Hari Parbat / Chakreshwari Shrine came under constant threat. Living at the foothills of the historic fort, Raina was known for placing himself in the front ranks whenever groups attempted to encroach upon or occupy the lands attached to the revered temple of Chakreshwari — one of the oldest and holiest sites in Kashmir’s spiritual geography.

He was not merely a resident of the area; he was a vigilant guardian of a sacred legacy.

From his vantage point below the hill, Raina witnessed firsthand the parades, drills, and early mobilisation exercises of budding militants who had begun using the Hari Parbat hilltop as a staging ground. Instead of confronting this growing menace, the government of the day either ignored, enabled, or collaborated, allowing extremist elements to take root while minorities were left vulnerable and exposed.

■ The Night of Fear

One evening in May 1990, long after dusk had settled over the valley, stones began raining down on his home. The attacks continued late into the night.
Raina lived almost entirely surrounded by Muslim neighbours, and as the only Pandit family in that pocket, the message was unmistakable. His wife, child, and elderly mother trembled inside the small house as stones shattered the silence and fear seeped into every corner.

By dawn, Omkar Nath Raina made a painful but necessary decision:
they would leave Srinagar for Jammu.

The pattern across the Valley was unmistakable — Pandits were being singled out, threatened, and eliminated. The stone-pelting had been a warning. He could no longer risk keeping his family in a neighbourhood where the militants’ shadow was growing darker each day.

■ The Abduction

On 11 May 1990, with packed bags and heavy hearts, Raina escorted his wife, nine-year-old daughter, and sixty-year-old mother towards the bus stand. But militants — who had already put him “on notice” — were waiting.

Before he could help his family board the vehicle, he was suddenly seized, torn away from their hands, and dragged off by armed men.

His wife and daughter could do nothing but scream.

His mother could do nothing but watch her son being taken into the nightmarish machinery that had consumed so many men in those months.

■ Torture and Death

The brutality inflicted upon Omkar Nath Raina was horrific.

He was beaten mercilessly, tortured over hours, his face disfigured, and burning cigarettes were pressed repeatedly onto his skin to torment him. His body became a canvas of cruelty — one meant to send a message to every Pandit who dared resist or raise his voice.

His body was eventually discovered at Alijan Road, Soura — violated, abandoned, and mutilated, but bearing the unmistakable marks of a man who refused to surrender his dignity even in death.

■ A Symbol of Resistance and Betrayal

Raina’s killing was not random. It was targeted, symbolic, and purposeful.

He represented three things militants despised:

1. A Kashmiri Pandit rooted in heritage
2. A witness to their illegal activities
3. A man unafraid to defend the sacred spaces of Kashmir

His murder was designed to silence the vigilant and terrorize the remaining Pandit population of Srinagar.

His family — a young wife, a little daughter, and an ageing mother — never recovered from watching him taken away. Like countless displaced families, they carried their trauma into exile, leaving behind not just a home but an entire life.

Why Omkar Nath Raina Must Be Remembered

His story is not simply one more statistic in the long tragedy of 1990.
It is the story of a protector, a witness, and a father whose only crime was refusing to abandon the sacred land of his ancestors.

By preserving his memory, we honour not just a martyr, but a guardian of Kashmir’s civilizational soul.

@Minorities of Kashmir