Reduced to Rubble

By Daanish Bin Nabi

As the encounter between militants and government forces has become order-of-day in Kashmir valley; it is the common people who have to bear the brunt of the economic lose. This is the story of people who have lost almost every¬thing in this bloody conflict including their homes. There is also a perception among many of the cases where they think the government forces punish them deliberately as the civilian allegedly give shelter to the militants. 
On March 9, 2017 two militants barged into the house of Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh in the open paddy fields of Padgampora area of Pulwama.  

By 2:00 AM, government forces including troops of 130 Battalion CRPF, 55 Rashtirya Rifles and SOG Pulwama laid a siege to the area. Around 2:15 AM Sheikh’s family was asked to leave the house so that government forces could engage the militants. 
“We were asked to leave the house. How¬ever, forces took my son, Waseem Ahmad Sheikh with them. He was beaten to pulp by the army during night when they had laid siege around us,” says 70-year-old Sheikh. 
As per Sheikh while the rest of the family was taken to another village, Waseem was kept in an army jeep and continuously beaten as they were asking him for information about the militant. 
When the operation was finally over, it left two militants and a 15-year-old boy dead. 
However, for Sheikh’s family the encounter did not end there. 
The entire house bears bullet marks and there is not a single window left in the house. 
Sheikh says, “Our utensils were fired upon so that we cannot use them. All our blankets were destroyed.” 
According to Sheikh he had taken Rs 7 lakh loan for building the house. There was no help from government to re-build his house ei¬ther. 
With the help of a stick and in groaning voice Sheikh says, “Local villagers only helped us. They provided us food and some money.” 
After six days of the encounter while clean¬ing the house Sheikh’s family found a grenade. “My niece fainted when she saw the grenade while cleaning the rubble,” he says. 
He added that police had told them that they threw two grenades during the encounter but one of them had not exploded.
One of the two militants jumped into the paddy fields from back widow of Sheikh’s house. It was here he was shot dead by the army who had also laid ambush in the paddy fields. 
Adjacent to Sheikh’s house resides his rela¬tive Ghulam Qadir Sheikh. During the night the second militant had managed to get into Qadir’s house. 
Qadir says, “Even after they killed the militant who was hiding in my house they brought it down.” 
The Qadir’s family just like Sheikh’s fam¬ily was sent to other villages by the forces. 
Narrating his tale of tragedy Qadir says, “I had got a cow for loan of for Rs. 55,000. The army killed her also. Then villagers collected Rs. 80,000 for us and with that money I repaid my loan back, but now I have nothing left.” 
“We were put through these miserably times for no fault of ours,” says Qadir. 
Like in all the cases no government com¬pensation was provided to them as well. 
The second militant fought for entire day before he too jumped into paddy fields only to get killed at 5:00 PM. Qadir’s house was razed to ground by the army. 
In Hassanpora village in Bijbehara area of district Anantnag, Raees Ahmad Ganai is busy in clearing the rubble of his newly construct¬ed home. The similarity between Hassanpora and Padgampora area is that both the houses are closed to vast paddy fields. 
Two militants got trapped in Ganai Manzil at 2:00 AM on the intervening night of Decem¬ber 8-9, 2016. The gun battle lasted for 42 hours. 
The family members had to leave the house in dead of night. Raees’s sister was last to leave the house. The Ganai family spent next three days in horrifying terror. 
Raees says, “He and his father Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai went to some unknown place to escape the punishment of forces. We feared that they will beat and torture us on the pretext of sheltering the militants.” 
Ganai Manzil was a three story building which was razed to ground by the government forces even after trapped militants were killed. 
The tragedy with Ganai family is that their younger son Jehangir Ganai was shot dead by SOG in 2016 unrest when he was on way back home after offering funeral prayers of Burhan Wani. As per Raees the government forces had launched the attack on militants from neigh¬bouring houses of Mohammad Yousuf Ganai and Farooq Ahmad Ganai. 
He says, “Gold, blankets, clothes and shoes were stolen by the army from these two hous¬es.” Stealing the household items by the gov¬ernment forces was a common practice during the dreadful years of 1990s in Kashmir. 
Recollecting the horrifying tale of how his house was brought down Raees says, “Army first fixed RDX and then threw 250 liters of petrol over it to raise it to the ground.” 
He says that the most depressing part of the encounter was that the army then said his family is working for militants and they should leave and go to Pakistan. 
Raees says, “It was only after some of the elders of our village went to the local MLA that army allowed us to breathe and allowed our movement.” 
Here as well the family has received no gov¬ernment compensation as there is no set poli¬cy with the government for rehabilitation of the conflict torn families. 
“All the help came from villagers. They collected the money on Friday congregational prayers. Some of people also came from Sopo¬re with money, rice and blankets,” says Raees’s mother. 
Amid sobs she says, “I do not want this sec¬ond house but want my Jehangir back. I want my emperor back.” 
Two local commanders of Lashkar-e-Toiba Majid Zargar and Rahil Amin were killed in this encounter. 
On February 12, 2017 four militants were chased by Army and around 10:30 pm they barged into the house of Abdul Majeed Reshi, a baker in Frisal area of Kulgam district. 
Reportedly, this group of militants surfaced after one among them had gone to his sister’s marriage in a nearby village. 
As per Abdul Majeed, his younger son Issaq Majeed Reshi was taken to encounter site while rest of family along with their elder son Mo¬hammad Shafi Reshi was sent to other village to take shelter. 
“Issaq was shot dead near the encounter site. He was a daily wager in PHE department. He was an ITI degree holder,” says frail Abdul Majeed. Issaq is survived by a three year-old daughter. 
According to Majeed his elder son Moham¬mad Shafi Reshi was arrested and tortured in army captivity. He was released by the army later only to be picked up again. 
These days he is under detention at Yari¬pora police station. 
“He has also become abnormal due to con¬tinuous tortures at various SOG and army camps across south Kashmir. He is often ar¬rested and tortured in most inhumane way,” says Majeed’s family. 
The Reshi house that was razed to ground after the encounter ended is now in rebuilding process. 
“Everything is done by villagers. We don’t know how much money they have spent till now for re-building our house. Eatables and clothing was also provided by them,” says Ma¬jeed. 
A heartbroken Majeed says, “We only want to live in peace. Please help us in release of our second son. Please stop harassing our family. Everything of ours has been destroyed.” 
Four militants and two army men were killed in this encounter.

daanishnabi@gmail.com

Published at August 04, 2017 - 2768 views