Pulwama youth Adil Ahmad Dar who rammed his explosive-fitted vehicle into a CRPF convoy in Lethpora Thursday was a fan of Indian cricketer Dhoni, a member of Adil’s family said Friday.
“Adil Ahmad (21) and his cousin Sameer Ahmad vanished from home last year and a few days later we learned that the duo had signed up for the militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad,” a relative of Adil said, wishing not to be named.
“Ever since, we have had no contact with them,” he said.
Adil’s father Ghulam Hassan told Greater Kashmir that his son would never take part in protests marked by stone-pelting. However, he said, his son was harassed by government forces in 2016 “which changed him.”
“I made him realise that these are trivial issues and he should not take them to his heart,” Dar said at his modest residence, which continued to be flooded with mourners for the second consecutive day Friday.
Adil was second among his three brothers, and, according to his father, he was not less than “a jack of all trades.”
“He knew horticulture related jobs and worked as a mason and painter as well. He would also help his mother in the family chores,” Dar said.
He said the unresolved Kashmir issue drew his son towards militancy.
In May last year, the family said, the government forces attempted to torch their house during night.
Hundreds of people from adjoining villages were making a beeline at Dar’s house, and two rounds of absentia funeral prayers were held for Adil.
Meanwhile, the United Jihad Council, an amalgam of various militant outfits, Friday decried the silence of the world community over the Kashmir issue.
“Silence maintained by world community has pushed Kashmiris to the wall. New Delhi can’t blame Pakistan and also can’t befool the world through its media. Kashmiris carry out their struggle on their own,” a UJC spokesman quoted the outfit’s chief Syed Salah-ud-din saying in a statement to local news agency KNS.
Salahuddin said: “Those at the helm in Pakistan should help in the resolution of Kashmir diplomatically.”