Mothers who saw coffins of their sons
Daanish Bin Nabi
daanishnabi@gmail.com
Talking to mothers about sons no more is the most difficult task. Here Daanish Bin Nabi talks to some mothers of Kashmiri local militants, almost none among them had imagined that their loved ones will be brandishing AK47s for the “resistance movement” in Kashmir.
Shareefa, mother of Aadil Reshi, is yet to come to terms with the loss of her son.
Aadil, a B.Com graduate with one year diploma in computers, left home after having lunch and told his family that he was going to Pahalgam for picnic with friends.
Same day a policeman was killed and according to Aadil’s family members, Police held him responsible for killing.
Shareefa in a very low tone says, “I talked to him last time when he got trapped in Awoora area of Pahalgam on January 15, 2017. He called his father, Mushtaq Ahmed Reshi, at 4:00 PM and we talked to him for one and hour half before I heard barrage of firing on the other side of the phone.”
“He used to offer five mandatory prayers regularly. Everyone from family told him to surrender I was the only one who supported him not to surrender,” says Shareefa.
By this time Shareefa is in tears and murmured, “While dropping the phone, Aadil said we will meet there. I will wait for you mummy.”
Aadil who was active for 19 months was a shy boy. His mother is yet to come to terms that he was an active militant. As per her it was SHO Bijbehara who had called Aadil’s elder brother Bilal Reshi to police station and told him that Aadil has joined militancy. Bilal was detained for 15days by the police. Bilal was arrested four times by Srinagar Cargo and was frequently called to Sangam SOG camp by DySP for questioning. On December 25, 2015 Bilal was arrested for 25 days.
Shareefa says their family was frequently arrested and harassed till Aadil was active.
The Reshi family is one of richest families in Bijbehara. The family has a booming business of building material. Reshi Shopping Complex has 17 shops. Nearby to this shopping complex is Reshi House.
The Reshi House is a three floor palatial mansion with all the floors carpeted with Iranian carpets. The Reshis have around four to five crore turnover.
Shareefa says government forces used to tell them they will cripple their business and the shopping complex will be closed down if Aadil doesn’t not surrender.
“My son had a Maruti 800, Pulsar bike, Samsung Grand 2 mobile phone and Rs. 5000 per month as pocket money,” says the mother. Why still he went to become a militant which many in the state and center needs to answer.
Aadil Reshi was killed along with his two associates in Awoora area of Pahalgam on January 16, 2017.
Almost 7.2 miles away from Bijbehara lies the militant hotbed of Qaimoh in district Kulgam. It is the fourth day of mourning of Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Fayaz Ahmad Ashwar alias Setha.
Outside the lane of Fayaz young kids distribute juices to passersby and travelers as a tribute to Fayaz. Four to five militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba appeared at his funeral and fired volley of bullets in air offering gun salute to Fayaz.
Officially, Fayaz was evading arrest in connection with his “alleged” role in the Narsu-Udhampur attack on a convoy of Border Security Force in 2015 that left two BSF men dead and 11 others injured.
A Pakistani militant affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, Muhammad Naved Yaqub, was arrested while trying to flee after carrying out the attack while another was gunned down.
However, Rahat Begum the mother of Fayaz has a different tale to share about his slain son. Amongst the heavy rush of guests and people, Rahat spends half an hour with us in a separate room.
“He was simple driver who used ferry passengers on Srinagar-Jammu road. He had no links with militants. After 26th day of the Udhampur episode government for the first time raided our house. However, Fayaz was not at home,” says a calm Rahat.
She adds, “We broke sim cards after we were continuously harassed by the forces. Then my younger son was arrested for 18 days and brutally tortured. In last two years there were hundreds of raids on our house.”
Fayaz was active for two years and was killed on May 7, 2017 near Mirbazar in Anantnag district in which four others were also killed. His funeral was attended by thousands of people and four to five LeT militants too appeared in the procession.
“We went to Sartaj Madni, Sajjad Mufti and Gaffar Sofi of ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) Majeed Bhat of Home Shalibugh. We went to each and every officer seeking their help in trying to plead his case. We told them even if it takes two years to investigate and complete the case but give us in writing that you will release him,” Rahat says.
“My son was simply forced to take up the guns,” she adds.
Fayaz who was active for one and half years is survived by a 15 month-old-daughter namely Asim Fayaz. After NIA took the case even the lawyers refused to take up the case.
“20 days before he was killed he came to meet us during night for 10 minutes around about 11:00 PM,” that was the last times I saw him says Rahat.
“It was militants who crossed the LoC what was our fault. I appeal to government and security agencies not to force youth to take up guns. And there is a need for conducive environment where justice will prevail,” she adds.
Another mother of Sheikh Mohalla, Bijbehara has her sad tale to share. His son Adil, only 17, was a social worker.
Adil as per his mother was always busy with nimaz, building the locality mosque and help the needy.
At entrance of their humble house Adil’s grandfather, 80, weeps on seeing any guest. “You are my Adil,” he says with teary eyes.
Once inside the house, the situation is no different. Adil’s grandmother has been paralysed after she heard the news of Adil’s death. She is bed ridden now.
Adil’s mother, Shamima, says she never expected that at such a tender age he would join militancy.
Adil was killed on November 23, 2015 in Silgam village outside Aishmuqam.
In tears Shamima says, “I never expected he would go away like this.”
Shamima says in last six months we never talked to him over phone. Few days before he was trapped I went to meet him near Chandernar area only for 10 minutes. “How can I explain those ten minutes,” Shamima says sobbingly.
“In those ten minutes he only kept saying to me to forgive him as it is due to him that the family has to go through regular harassment at the hands of government forces,” Shamima said.
“Hand-in-hand, we only wept. That was my last meeting with my angel,” concludes Shamima who by this time has wiped her moist eyes many times.
She blames Mukibirs (informers) for killing Burhan and his son Adil. “My son was offering prayers in Masjid when government forces laid the siege outside. It is these Mukhbirs who are responsible for their killing,” she says.
The common thread among all these families is that the government of India should start an unconditional dialogue with the Kashmiris so that more youth are not attracted towards the militancy in Kashmir.
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Published in Rising Kashmir on August 01, 2017 04:22 AM -4846views
