Nazir Ahmad Bhat recalls the moment when there was confusion over the identification of the body of his militant son Muzamil in Pulwama.
In December last, four Jaish militants including one Pakistani militant were killed in an encounter at Hanjan Rajpora village of the district.
“Though the other two who were locals were easily identified, there was a confusion between other two bodies. One was believed to be body of a Pakistani militant and another was said to be of my son. Nobody could have said with authenticity who was who, since their bodies had been disfigured in the gunfight,” said Bhat.
Bhat said he had two options either to take any body for burial or wait for tests that could have ascertained who was his son.
Then, Bhat said, he told the police officer present there he knew for sure who he son was between the two.
“Some four years back, my son was hit with pellets that had also damaged his left eye. His entire body was imprinted with pellets. So, I looked for pellet marks in the two bodies. I just scanned leg of one body to find pellet marks. Here, it was my son,” said Bhat.
Bhat said that prior to joining militancy in July 2018, Muzamil participated in protests and was also regular at militant funerals.