MIR EHSAN
Mumtaza Akhter does'nt want to marry till she gets to know the whereabouts of her father. She believes the money her family intends to spend on her marriage can be used in the search for her father.
Her father Mohammad Abdullah Ganai, the family says, was "picked up by the Border Security Force (BSF) in 1991 and thrashed in full public view before he was dumped into a Gypsy van". Since then the family has not seen Abdullah.
"I miss my father and wants him to make arrangements for my marriage," says Mumtaza. But she doesn't know that many of her family members have lost hope of seeing him ever. "It's very difficult to get him back," says Abdullah's younger brother Ghulam Ahmad.
Abdullah Gania used to sell meat in Kupwara's busy main market to earn for the family.
According to family members, on March 25, 1991, a BSF party headed by an officer, Narsingh, came to his shop and after thrashing him dumped him into a BSF vehicle. The men who picked up Gania came from BSF's 76 Battalion stationed at Batergam locality then, they say.
"A BSF officer told us he will be released in a week," recalls Ghulam Ahmad. "After nine days, the Commanding Officer of the unit denied having arrested my brother and threatened me of dire consequences if I pursued my brother's case."
The family says Abdullah Gania was not a militant and had no affiliation with any militant group. But his brother Fayaz Ahmad had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to seek arms training in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). BSF wanted Fayaz to surrender once he returns from PoK, say the family members.
"The BSF officers told my brother about the demand," says Ahmad. The arrest of Fayaz by the army (instead of the BSF) soon after he (Fayaz) returned from PoK annoyed BSF, he says. "BSF officials thought Fayaz had surrendered at the behest of the family and that annoyed them," says Ghulam Ahmad.
"That become the reason for the arrest of my brother," he adds.
Once the BSF denied the arrest, the family went to jails and camps in different parts Kashmir. "We did not leave out a single camp or jail from our search," says Ghulam Ahmad. "One day, somebody told us he is lodged in Tihar jail. We left for Tihar, only to return dejected," says Ghulam Ahmad.
Back in Kupwara's Gulgam village, the family had spent all their money in the search. "We had a small piece of land and to raise the money to search for him, which we sold as well," says Showket Ahmad Gania, Abdullah's only son who was four at the time of his father's disappearance.
All that Showket wants to know now is: "If my father is alive please tell me where he is lodged. And if he has been killed, tell us straight so that we give my father a decent burial."
Mumtaza Akhter does'nt want to marry till she gets to know the whereabouts of her father. She believes the money her family intends to spend on her marriage can be used in the search for her father.
Her father Mohammad Abdullah Ganai, the family says, was "picked up by the Border Security Force (BSF) in 1991 and thrashed in full public view before he was dumped into a Gypsy van". Since then the family has not seen Abdullah.
"I miss my father and wants him to make arrangements for my marriage," says Mumtaza. But she doesn't know that many of her family members have lost hope of seeing him ever. "It's very difficult to get him back," says Abdullah's younger brother Ghulam Ahmad.
Abdullah Gania used to sell meat in Kupwara's busy main market to earn for the family.
According to family members, on March 25, 1991, a BSF party headed by an officer, Narsingh, came to his shop and after thrashing him dumped him into a BSF vehicle. The men who picked up Gania came from BSF's 76 Battalion stationed at Batergam locality then, they say.
"A BSF officer told us he will be released in a week," recalls Ghulam Ahmad. "After nine days, the Commanding Officer of the unit denied having arrested my brother and threatened me of dire consequences if I pursued my brother's case."
The family says Abdullah Gania was not a militant and had no affiliation with any militant group. But his brother Fayaz Ahmad had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to seek arms training in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). BSF wanted Fayaz to surrender once he returns from PoK, say the family members.
"The BSF officers told my brother about the demand," says Ahmad. The arrest of Fayaz by the army (instead of the BSF) soon after he (Fayaz) returned from PoK annoyed BSF, he says. "BSF officials thought Fayaz had surrendered at the behest of the family and that annoyed them," says Ghulam Ahmad.
"That become the reason for the arrest of my brother," he adds.
Once the BSF denied the arrest, the family went to jails and camps in different parts Kashmir. "We did not leave out a single camp or jail from our search," says Ghulam Ahmad. "One day, somebody told us he is lodged in Tihar jail. We left for Tihar, only to return dejected," says Ghulam Ahmad.
Back in Kupwara's Gulgam village, the family had spent all their money in the search. "We had a small piece of land and to raise the money to search for him, which we sold as well," says Showket Ahmad Gania, Abdullah's only son who was four at the time of his father's disappearance.
All that Showket wants to know now is: "If my father is alive please tell me where he is lodged. And if he has been killed, tell us straight so that we give my father a decent burial."
No comments:
Post a Comment