Srinagar, Aug 6: In ward no 16 of the SMHS hospital here, an 18-year-old boy is battling for life and a double-edged pain - that of losing his uncle and having himself got a bullet in the abdomen.
 After his uncle, Khursheed Ahmad War a driver by profession of Shumnag Kupwara, fell to the bullets of Special Operations Group of police at Kralpora in the border district of Kupwara on Monday last, Owais Nasir was next to be shot by the SOG men when he attempted to save his uncle.
 Owais said his uncle was outspoken and a disciplined person. “Khursheed was pious and was preaching brotherhood to his fellow drivers,” he said.
 Restlessly gazing at every attendant through his shiny eyes at SMHS, Owais is yet to reconcile with the tragedy that his uncle, Khursheed has been killed.
 Young Owais unable to bear the pain of his uncle’s death said; “I still remember last year in this August, he took me to Gulmarg on a trip. He was generous. He was driving Sumo like an aeroplane.”
 Owais is in deep shock. It seems he will take months to come out of this shock that the bond he shared with his uncle has been broken eternally.
 Unfolding the horrible scene of his uncle’s battle with death and a bullet in his own abdomen, Owais said in a freaky voice that an hour after protests were over, he along with his two uncles (Khursheed and Ali Muhammad) went out to see whether the situation was conducive to attend a marriage ceremony in a nearby village.
 “We were just half a kilometre away from our house, when a cavalcade of SOG, CRPF and police came and fired indiscriminately on us,” Owais said adding: “Scared, I hid myself behind the trees along the roadside and saw Khursheed uncle falling down on the road.” he said.
 Owais said somehow he gathered courage and went near to his uncle, who was drenched in blood. “The SOG and CRPF started beating blood-bathed Khursheed, writhing in pain and battling for life,” he said and added that Khursheed had received volley of bullets in his abdomen fired by the SOG personnel.
 Meanwhile, Owais’s another uncle Ali Muhammad came to cover blood-bathed Khursheed from beating by forces, he said. “My uncle (Ali) begged with them but forces did not listen to him and instead fired upon on me and smashed Ali on his back,” Owais said.
 In 2006, Khursheed married to a Sikkim girl, Yasmeena Begum. He also left behind a three year old daughter, Alana Khursheed. Apart from driving during winters, Khursheed was going to Sikkim in connection with the shawl business.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 6 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 6 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST