Five of the seven civilians killed in security forces’ firing near the scene of a firefight with militants in South Kashmir’s Pulwama on Saturday were teenagers. The rest were in their late 20s, married and only bread earners of their families.
The youngest of them, Aqib Ahmad Bhat, 14, had recently cleared his Class 8 exams. According to his family and neighbours, he was a passionate cricketer. “For his batting prowess, he was called Virat Kohli… Three days ago, he had scored an unbeaten 75 in a match at the nearby stadium,” said Bhat’s neighbour Bilal Ahmad.
Bhat’s father discovered his son was among the dead when he rushed to the nearby hospital to help the people wounded in the firing. “…he found his son was dead with a bullet in his head. It was tragic,” said Ahmad. Bhat is survived by his two siblings, mother, and the labourer father.
Another teenager, Suhail Rashid, 15, killed in the firing had recently passed his Class 9 and belonged to a well-to-do landed family. “In summer this year, security forces picked him up during a late night raid and he was beaten up. He was kept in custody for a couple days. Before that, the forces had dragged him on a road during a protest. He was very angry with the Army and police,” said Rashid’s relative Gowhar Ahmad.
Rashid had left his home for the scene of the gunfight as soon as learning about it.
Laiqat Majeed Dar, 17, died in the firing after he was shot in his head. He was a milkman’s son and had recently appeared in his Class 11 examinations. Dar, a commerce student, helped his father after school.
Shahbaz Ahmad Najar, 19, was not at the firefight scene when a bullet hit and killed him in the courtyard of a neighbour, where he had gathered with his family. “He was hit by a bullet in the back of his head.. It was not clear where the bullet came from. There was indiscriminate firing by the forces,” said his cousin Showkat Ahmad.
Najar, a carpenter’s son and Class 12 student, also repaired cars. He was a football fan and is survived by his three siblings and parents. Amir Ahmad Palla, 16, a mechanic forced to drop out of school because of poverty, was killed near the gunfight site.
Abid Hussain, 28 and Touseef Ahmad Mir, 29, the other two men killed in the firing, were married with minor children. Hussain, an MBA, had just returned from Indonesia after marrying an Indonesian woman there last year. His daughter is three-month-old. Residents said Hussain belonged to a well-off landed family and had no link with any stone-throwing protests.
“He did his MBA from Bangalore. He was in no way connected to any stone throwing and was targeted by the Army when he was pruning his fruit trees on the other side of the firefight site. He received a bullet in his throat,” said his cousin, Samiullah Dar.
Samiullah Dar said Hussain’s father had passed away and he was planning to start a business of fruit boxes with his brother. Mir, a casual worker with the Power Development Department, is survived by his widow and two children, the eldest of whom is five-year-old.
