Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, justice continues to elude the family of the 12th class student, Tufail Mattoo, despite the passage of a decade to his cold-blooded murder.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Tufail Mattoo had died on the spot after a teargas shell fired by Indian police hit him near Ghani Memorial College in Srinagar on June 11, 2010. His killing had led to the mass uprising in the occupied territory in that year.
Five years later, the occupation authorities had closed the case on the basis of witnesses being untraceable. Tufail Mattoo’s father, Muhammad Ashraf Mattoo, fought a legal battle for reinvestigation of the case. The case was re-opened but a conclusion is still not in sight.
“My son has completed ten years in the grave. He has not got justicZe so far. But I am undeterred. I will fight. Despite my case being strong, there was no fair trial. Our struggle has exposed them, at least,” Muhammad Ashraf Mattoo said in an interview in Srinagar.
Tufail was a student of class 12 at Government Higher Secondary School Hazratbal. On June 11, 2010, Tufail was hit by a teargas shell near Rajouri Kadal and died on the spot.
Ashraf, 55, quit a plush job in Dubai to come to Srinagar to fight for justice for his son. He has no job now and he sustains his family on his savings. According to him, he has dedicated his life to fight for justice, even if it may not come in his lifetime.
“I have chosen to fight for it, so I am doing it. If I do not get justice, Allah will deliver it in the afterlife. But my struggle will expose the system that is bereft of any respect for justice,” he said.—KMS
