On the cold evening of December 29, Mohammad Maqbool Gannie, a head constable posted at Ganderbal police station received a message in his police WhatsApp group that an encounter had started between militants and a mixed contingent of army, CRPF and police at Lawaypora, in Srinagar outskirts. Given the routine of gun-battles, he treated the news lightly. Hours later, he was informed through a call from his family at Putrigam (Pulwama) that his son Ajaz Ahmad, 22, had not returned home.
Ahmad had earlier left home for Degree College Pulwama. Late afternoon, he had rung up his sister to tell her that he was with a friend and might stay back for the night.
WHERE IS YOUR SON?
Gannie called Ahmad’s number multiple-times but it came switched off. “I thought he might be at a friend’s place and might have some issue with his cell phone,” Gannie said. Later that night, he saw another update of the encounter on his WhatsApp and it was still going on. After that, he slept.
The following day, around 9 AM, when Gannie was getting ready for work, he got a call from police station Rajpora. It was the Station House Officer (SHO).
“Where is your son?” he asked Gannie. Bewildered, Gannie told him the same story. The officer asked Gannie for a photograph of his son. A policeman himself, Gannie knew what the context of the demand for a photograph meant. He was told about the encounter he had been reading about in the WhatsApp messages.
The SHO told him to rush to Police Control Room Srinagar. “I had no inkling about what was going on,” Gannie said.
Hoping Against Hope
Denne historien er fra January 03 - 09, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra January 03 - 09, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
