In the winter of 1990, as fear gripped the Valley, Satish Kumar Tickoo stood tall as a protector and provider. A hardworking Kashmiri Pandit businessman, he cycled across Srinagar to run his medical trade, sat at his father’s shop in Habba Kadal, and became a lifeline for the poor—helping families marry off their daughters and shielding young girls from exploitation. His courage was such that even those who opposed him feared his presence.

On 2 February 1990, militants came for him. Lured out of his home by Farooq Ahmad Dar (Bitta Karate), Satish faced his assassins not with fear but with defiance. In his final act of resistance, he hurled his kangri at the gunmen before being shot at point-blank range. That single moment captured his spirit—unarmed, yet unbroken.

Satish Tickoo’s martyrdom was not just the first Pandit killing claimed by Bitta Karate; it was a message that even when terror rose with guns, the heart of a Kashmiri Pandit could fight back with fire. His story is not just of loss—it is of heroism, defiance, and sacrifice.