Unable to trace his whereabouts, the family of a man, who went missing last month in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, took to the Internet by posting a video appealing him to “return home.”
Azad Ahmad Shah (28), a postgraduate in computer applications, went missing on June 19, leaving his family traumatized, especially his little niece, Tamana, who is weeping inconsolably to seek his return home.
The thought that Azad had no inclination towards “anything extreme as he was a responsible man trying to achieve heights of success in life” has made his family members anxious, who have searched for him everywhere but to no avail.
After completing his post graduation, Shah has been running a computer institute in Ajas town of the district for a few years now, apart from that he would also tie-up with companies to take small private or government consignments on contract, said his brother-in-law, Tariq Ahmad.
His sister and brother-in-law are equally distraught as Azad was raised by them from a young age. He lived most of his years with them as his own family was left financially crippled after one of his brothers was diagnosed with kidney failure years ago.
The evening, Azad went missing, he had returned from the hill station, Aathwatoo, after a daylong picnic with his colleagues and friends, his family said.
He was also making some preparations for a presentation scheduled for the next day at mini-secretariat Bandipora, his family said.
On 19 July evening, he received a phone call, his family said. “He left in a hurry promising her niece to return in 10 minutes to accompany her home,” said his mother, her eyes puffed due to incessant weeping. “I had served him noodles just before he left the home.”
But when night approached, Azad was nowhere to be seen, his brother said. The continuous phone calls from his brother went unanswered as the phone was switched off.
After searching for him everywhere, and when the missing complaint bore no fruits, the family posted a video on social media, asking Azad to “return home.”
“I miss you a lot, please come back home, Babu”, Tamana, his little niece, is heard saying in a heartfelt appeal in a video on social media.
According to his family, Tamana is very close to Azad and that she won’t leave him for even a minute. “He too loves her far from anybody else, as he has raised her like a child,” Tamana’s father said.
“Your sister has survived heart attacks since you left and mother almost went into a coma,” misty-eyed Tariq appeals in the video addressed to Azad.
“O! my brother, my children and me will die without you, please come back home,” wails the sister of Azad, pleading him to “return home.”
When contacted, SSP Bandipora, Rahul Malik told Greater Kashmir that an investigation is going on and no traces of Azad have been found yet.