He Was Innocent, Only Protecting His Cowshed: Irfan’s Father Rakib Altaf SRINAGAR: Father of Irfan Ahmed Ganaie, the first among two youth shot dead by the army in north Kashmir, is simply shocked, failing to understand why his son was killed. Irfan had only gone out to keep watch over his cow shed. But then soldiers of the Rashtriya Rifles – counter insurgency unit of the Army – hit him with a baton first and then fired two bullets at him, one in the head and the other in his right arm, says Ghulam Nabi Ganaie. “He died on the spot, his brain matter was out,” he says, in such a deep shock that he spoke normally. He says that at around 0300 hrs, the army men came in a private vehicle with registration number JK05A 9915 (official army vehicle have different registration numbers unlike this) to Markundal Gulshanpora in Bandipora. There had already been some incidents of cattle theft in the area and the villagers raised an alarm, not realising the men were soldiers, he says. “Why they came we do not know. They will say they came looking for militants, or something else, they are known to do many things.” After killing Irfan, his father says, the frenzied army soldiers stood outside the doors of houses, shouting, abusing people, warning them not to come out. But soon protesters took to the streets this morning and then the army fired again, killing another youth, Irshad Ahmed Dar, aged above 25. Ghulam Nabi, a teacher by profession, did not cry when he spoke to us – his world is simply shattered for tears to come out. “What can we do? We are helpless people and helpless people can’t do anything,” he says, as he now readies himself for his son’s funeral. But he has one request, he tells us. “I want to request you, the media. I know you cannot do anything, but at least tell others, tell the world what has happened with us. (Courtesy: FreePressKashmir)
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:02:43 +0000
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