by Tarushi Aswani
DELHI: Naseer’s mother is in a state of perpetual stupor; she clutches a passport size photo in her hand. Looking outside her window, she appears hopeful yet hopeless at the same time, lifelessly awaiting her son, who might never return home.
On November 29, 2019, Wanis’ heard a series of resounding knocks on their door in Doompora village. Soon loud shrieks deafened the house, “Where is Naseer Ahmad?”, “Who is Naseer Ahmad” yelled an army officer, the family said was from 42-Rashtriya Rifles.
Mohammad Hussain Wani, Naseer’s father, says, “They dragged my son out of the house and threw him into their vehicle, there was nothing we could do”.
The very next day, the family said they visited the Police Station (Keegam) where their application was accepted but no FIR was registered. The family also alleges that when they met the IGP, SP Shopian and other officers they were repeatedly told that their son “had been freed but had left to join militancy”.
As they continuously begged the authorities for further investigation in the case of their son, they only met with harassment and allegations that their son had become a militant. Severe allegations surround Naseer’s disappearance; Wani’s have also claimed that after their return from the Police Station, the army again forced their way into their house only to humiliate them even further.
Without a trace of Naseer around, the family now awaits the mortal remains of whatever is left of Naseer now.
“They took my brother that night, it has been nine months since, there is no news of him, dead, alive, nothing. The army took him, in front of our eyes, his face faded amid the darkness,” Naseer’s sister said.
SP Shopian, Amrit Pal when contacted about this case said that the requisite report has been submitted to the concerned authorities and declined to talk any further.
Wanis’ said have been running from pillar to post to get any information about their son. From getting a written application in his favour from Office of District Magistrate, Shopian directing SSP Shopian to lodge a missing complaint about his son (dated 10.12.2019) to filing two complaints with the Governor’s grievance cell (Application no: 999001538817 and 999001506714), and now writing a letter to the PMO, the family now has hands folded in prayers and eyes glued to the door, awaiting either Naseer, or his dead remains.
The apprehensions have hugely swelled after the Shopian “encounter” in which the slain three “militants” eventually were proved to be innocent civilians. The family has a simple question: ‘if our son was taken from home, to whom was his custody given when he was set free?’
(Tarushi is a Delhi based reporter who frequently reports Kashmir.)
