In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Muneera Banoo, mother of Aijaz Ahmed Naik, who was the sole bread-earner to his family and has been in jail since 2019 passed away in Shopian, ending her four-year-long wait for her incarcerated son.
Muneera’s husband Mohammed Abdullah Naik passed away in 2000 leaving behind two young children for her to take care of. “She did well in taking care of her children. She did everything she could to bring them up,” Tariq Ahmed Naik, a rela-tive told the media.
On 06 May 2019, Aijaz Ahmed Naik who owns a mobile-recharge shop in the Zainapora market of Shopian was arrested in a fake case. He was initially lodged at Police Station, Zainapora, from where he was shifted to Pulwama Jail. “From Pulwama he was shifted to Srinagar. And from Srinagar, he was shifted to Kathua. Later, from Kathua he was shifted to Srinagar, where he is currently lodged,” Tariq said.
Throughout this time, Muneera Banoo struggled hard. She visited courts and met lawyers to see her son out of the Jail, Tariq said. “The family had it hard, economically, since Aijaz was the sole bread earner to the family,” he said.
Saqib Abdullah Naik is the younger brother of Aijaz, but is mentally unsound, Tariq said. Soon after Aijaz was arrested, it became tough for Mu-neera to see her jailed son, Aijaz, as strict curfew was imposed in the valley post the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.—KMS
