In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, scores of people held a protest demonstration in Srinagar seeking the whereabouts of a youth who went missing in Indian Army custody a month ago.
The protest was led by Khera Begum, the mother of Abdul Rashid Dar from Kunanposhpora area of Kupwara, at Lal Chowk in Srinagar along with some social activists and politicians, demanding of the authorities to reveal the whereabouts of the missing youth.
Khera Begum is around 65 years old and from the Kunanposhpora area of Kupwara which is around 100 kilometers north of Srinagar. Amid the chill of the winter as the temperatures dropped to sub-zero, she along with a dozen relatives reached Srinagar in a bus.
“My son was an honest individual. He drove a vehicle to take care of the needs of his family. We belong to a poor household,” the protesting mother said. If they have killed him, we must at least have his dead body back, she added.
A family member of the missing youth said, “We do not have enough money. Some relatives contributed money for helping us to reach Srinagar. There hardly has been a moment when the mother stops shedding tears or asking her other sons to find their brother (Rashid).”
Abdul Rashid Dar was arrested by the Indian Army during a house raid on the night of 15 December, 2022. He went missing in the custody on December 22. People have expressed the fear that the Indian Army wants to kill him in a fake encounter after dubbing him as a militant as it has done to thousands of other Kashmiris. Over eight thousands innocent Kashmiris have been subjected to custodial disappearance by Indian police and Army in the last 34 years.
The family has been protesting in Kupwara and Srinagar seeking the whereabouts of their missing kin.—KMS
