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Mufti Govt. is their ray of hope

By Shujaat Bukhari

ADHALL (KOKERNAG) DEC. 16. Thousands of people in Jammu and Kashmir, whose near and dear ones have been missing in custody for several years, hope that the new Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Government in the State would relieve them of their agony by at least helping them to know whether the missing relatives or dead or alive.

Afroza, is one such unfortunate woman whose husband, Abdul Majeed Agoo, disappeared nine years ago, when she was barely 24 years old and their son was a six-month-old baby. "I am ready to gift my clothes to anyone who tells me that my husband is alive and will return even after 10 more years," she says in a choked voice.

Narrating her harrowing tale, she said that on June 11, 1993, troops of the 16 Rajput Regiment cordoned off Adhall village and a large number of people were asked to assemble in the playground of the local school for an identification parade. During the parade, two youth, Abdul Majeed and Gulam Nabi Ahanger, along with the Imam of the local mosque, Moulvi Mohammed Shaban, were picked up by the security forces and tortured before the huge gathering. "They were taken to some place in the village for searches and brought back in a half-dead condition,'' Afroza said. "Gulam Nabi was beaten up by several jawans and killed on the spot, while Moulvi Shaban and Abdul Majeed were taken along by the troopers, who were stationed at Ahlan Gadole hamlet,'' she added.

Abdul Majeed, who was an employee of the Public Health Department, was out-spoken and witty, say the residents. He argued with the officer and answered his questions without fear, and this, Afroza feels, was the reason for his arrest.

"The officer told us that they would be set free after two days and it is now the ninth year we have been waiting... None of them has returned... My son Aamir Majeed, is now 10 years old, he has passed his 5th class and I still hope that Majeed will return home as my heart is not ready to accept that I am a widow as I have not seen the body or the funeral of my husband,'' Afroza said.

When Abdul Majeed did not return even after a week, an FIR was lodged with the Kokernag police station but nothing has come of it so far.

Afroza lives in a mud house at Adhall and says that she has been selling off her husband's property one by one to meet both ends meet. But the problem she is facing now is ensuring the continuation of her son's education, which is becoming more difficult with each passing day. Unlike the relatives of other missing people who have been working under the Association of Parents Disappeared Persons (APDP) and want to know whether their kin are dead or alive, Afroza refuses to accept that her husband would be no more.

"For last nine years, I have been running from pillar to post to trace my husband, but nobody has helped me out." She does not even have money to meet the Rural Development Minister in the Mufti Government, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed. But she hopes that the Mufti or his daughter would come to know about her plight and help her. "I have heard on the Radio that they are helping people like us," she added.

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