Pulwama: On Sunday morning, Achan village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district sank into grief as soon as the news about the killing of Sanjay Sharma spread across the area.
Sharma was shot at point blank range by militants at around 9:30 am on a street leading to his house.
The bullets pierced holes through his chest and he died on the spot.
Survived by his wife and three children, Sharma was working as an ATM guard with the J&K Bank. He had quit his private teaching job a couple of years ago to work as a security guard.
He along with his family and three brothers was living in a single house. Sharma’s family was one among the few families who chose to stay put in Kashmir after the displacement of the Kashmiri Pandit community in the troubled nineties.
The killing of Sharma wrapped the entire Muslim neighbourhood in grief.
“We have known him since his childhood. He was innocent and a gentleman. The entire village equally shares the pain and grief of his family,” said Muhammad Younus, a local.
As the lifeless body of Sharma was brought to his home, an air of melancholy enveloped the entire village.
Amidst the ear-splitting cries of his family, some Muslim women could be seen struggling to comfort his wife.
Throughout the day, the Muslim neighbours streamed into Sharma’s house to commiserate with the family.
They also collected wood and made a funeral pyre for Sharma’s last journey.
“We always stood by each other through thick and thin. He was a man of deep humility,” said Jahangir Ahmad, another resident of village Achan.
Soon after the incident, a group of local residents staged a peaceful protest to denounce Sharma’s killing.
They raised slogans against the killing of innocent people and demanded justice for the victim’s family.