Fifteen-year-old Aasim eagerly awaited Id when his elder brother Aurangzeb would be home with all the gifts, including his much- needed cricket bat.
Rifleman Aurangzeb, however, did not make it home — terrorists abducted him on his way home and killed him earlier this week in Pulwama. The brutality has left young Aasim shaken to the core but not weakened his resolve to join the Army.
‘He was unarmed’
Aasim was on the phone talking to Aurangzeb, when the latter was abducted. “My brother was on his way to Poonch in a private vehicle. He was talking to me. I heard a shout ordering the vehicle to stop. I thought there was some checking. I never imagined militants were kidnapping my unarmed brother,” he said.
Aurangzeb, who was with the 44 Rashtriya Rifles, was part of Major Rohit Shukla’s team that gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Sameer Tiger.
But, despite the immeasurable loss, Aasim’s spirit remains unbroken. “I will join Army like my brothers and father,” he said. Their father, Mohammad Hanief, was a former sepoy in the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry.
