Civilian killing: Amid doom and gloom, Shopian village unable to come to terms

Shopian: The shutter of his shop is down but the mourners slow their pace and look at the store with pensive eyes as they walk past.

Shoaib Ahmad Ganie had set up an automobile accessories store a few months ago in his native Turkwangam village, some 11 kms from Shopian town, to earn his livelihood. But on Sunday afternoon a bullet pierced his chest after grazing his upper arm.

   

He was immediately rushed to hospital but he died of his injuries.

Ganie had crossed a nearby road to perform ablution for noon prayers when he was hit. His brother Shahid Ahmad alleged that he was killed by security forces in cold blood. “Even he raised his hands when he saw the CRPF men but despite that he was shot”, Ahmad said.

According to police, Ganie was caught in cross-firing when militants attacked a joint team of CRPF and SOG in the area.

District Magistrate Shopian, Sachin Kumar Vaishya ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident. “His murderers should be brought to justice”, said a family member of Ganie.

Surrounded by the mourners, Ghulam Muhammad Ganie, father of slain Ganie is in utter shock, unable to speak. “The death of his son has left him devastated. Now he has nothing to say”, said one of his relatives Aijaz Ahmad.

Lying in a welter of blood, when slain Ganie was being shifted to hospital, his father did not utter a single word. He was silently praying and waiting for a miracle to happen.

But when the doctors declared his son dead, senior Ganie broke his silence and tried to speak to his son’s lifeless body. “What should I say to your mother when she inquires about you”, he asked while caressing his son’s body.

When the corpse of Ganie reached his home, the ear-splitting cries mourners filled the air for hours.

As the mourners carried the casket with dead Ganie lying inside, the women beat their chest and bawled their eyes out.

At around 10 pm , Ganie was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard. “The entire village retired to bed without food and water”, said Ahmad.

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