The Hindu : Are they dead or alive?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 31, 2002

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Are they dead or alive?

By Shujaat Bukhari

Family members of a youth displaying a placard in Srinagar on Friday about the persons who went missing in the 13-year-old turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir. The Association of Disappeared Persons demanded that the fate of missing persons be made public. — Photo: Nissar Ahmad

SRINAGAR AUG. 30. It was a poignant moment in a city hotel today where a group of people, assembled to share their grief and console each other on the eve of the `International Day of the Disappeared', observed by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). They sobbed and wailed as they remembered their loved ones who were either missing or had disappeared mysteriously while in custody. The association claims that 6,000 people had disappeared in custody over the past 13 years.

Nine-year-old Ruksana, who came along with her three younger sisters from village Pachihar in Baramulla, said her father was picked up by security forces in January 1996 and since then there was no word about him. Their mother remarried and left them to fend for themselves. ``I was only five when our mother left us alone''' she cried. The burden of bringing up the four girls fell on the frail shoulders of their grandfather, who had earlier lost his second son in a crossfire.

Rafiqa from Tangmarg said her family of six sisters and ailing parents had tried very hard to locate their only brother, who went missing while in army custody six years ago. ``He was innocent and the only breadwinner for the family. If the Government tells us he is a militant and produce him, we will not seek his release.''.

Anwar Jan of Manchkond, Uri, does not know much about her husband and her brother-in-law from the day the Army took them away from their house. ``All I want to know is whether they are alive or not,'' she said. Her namesake from Chandawari, Baramulla, too is longing for information about her husband, Latif Khan, who was apprehended eight years ago. ``Where will we go to look for him. We have checked with every agency. The Army, BSF, police all say he is not with them. We don't know whether he is dead or alive.''

Eleven-year-old Tabasum was only seven-months old when her father, Ghulam Ahmad Mir went missing after returning from his field in Drugmulla. She and her two older siblings are now being looked after by Zooni, their grandmother, who survives on alms.

Shamima's tale is even more heart-rending. She was a bride of 15 days when her husband, Mohammad Rafiq Mir, was picked up on January 22 three years ago in Baramulla. It is no better for Adil, 8, and other small children, who were holding placards which read: `What am I, a posthumous or orphan?', `My father, where is he?' and so on.

Zubeida, a middle-aged woman from Safa Kadal, told the gathering that they should "snub the ruling National Conference" if it asks for their vote in the coming elections.

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