MAJID MAQBOOL/DANISH NABI
Srinagar, Dec 24: On election day residents of Tengpora in Batamaloo here stayed away from the polling booths to express solidarity with the family members of three youth of the locality who were subjected to enforced disappearance in 1997.
As pro-freedom and anti-election slogans reverberated in the lanes of Tengpora on Wednesday, Rahte wept inconsolably outside her home, remembering her son, Mehraj-u-din Dar, who along with two other youth Mushtaq Ahmad Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, disappeared in custody after troopers arrested them on April 22, 1997.
Around the polling booth, troopers stood guard. And the people of the area kept away, standing outside the doors of their homes. “Why should we vote? This area has been a witness to the atrocities of the troopers over the years. We have lost many youth for the movement and we are for total election boycott,” said a resident, Abdul Razak Dar.
“The politicians have given us nothing except miseries. If vote is for development then why have the politicians failed to bring any development over the years?” he asked.
Out of 679, 676 and 783 voters in three polling booths in the area, only 37, 26 and 29 votes were polled till 3:30 pm.
“We boycotted elections to express solidarity with the family members of the three victims,” residents said, amid pro-freedom and anti-election slogans.
All these years the families of the victims have been waiting for them to return. They have been told that the three youth have been “killed and their bodies thrown into Jehlum.”
“Our Mohalla president yesterday informed us that we should no longer wait for the return of our sons as all the three youth, who disappeared in 1997 from this area, have been killed,” Rahte, the mother of Mehrajudin, said mournfully with a note of sadness in her words.
“My son was a shopkeeper and he worked very hard to earn livelihood for his family. That night troopers barged into our house. They took him away and didn’t even tell us why he was arrested”, Rahte said, struggling to hold back her tears.
Rahte, while showing the framed picture of Mehrajudin said, “We tried hard to trace him. I spent around 8 lakh Rupees to locate him but of no avail. We approached officials and other authorities but all these years all we got were assurances,” Rahte said. “Many people from media and other agencies came but till now no one has been able to bring back my son,” she said.
Mehrajudin’s two children - Shabnam and Sahil - have never seen their father. Mehrajudin’s family of seven has been suffering since his disappearance. “My children have grown up without seeing their father. I have to manage all their expenses on my own,” said Naseema, Mehrajuddin’s wife.
Just a few houses away from the Mehrajuddin’s home, the crowd had assembled outside the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, another youth who also disappeared in 1997 after their arrest.
Mushtaq has four children, and the eldest of them was only two years old when his father was arrested. “He was also taken away on the same night along with two other youth of the locality. He was happy with his life and I fail to understand why they arrested him,” said Mushtaq’s sister.
“No one has come forward to help us. My children often ask about their father but I don’t know what to tell them,” Mushtaq’s wife Rafeeqa said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment