In grim call of duty, Kashmir doctor declares own son 'brought dead'

Braving a heavy downpour, Dr. Abdul Gani Poswal, a medical officer at the Pulwama District Hospital, was joined on Saturday by hundreds of local people as he lowered the body of his teenage son into the grave.

In a grim call of duty, the doctor had on Friday declared his 15-year-old son Faizan “brought dead” to the Pulwama hospital after desperate attempts to revive him failed.

A senior doctor, who was present at the Pulwama hospital on Friday, told The Hindu that a stream of patients with pellet and bullet injuries starting pouring in immediately after the encounter started at Pulwama’s Thumna village in the afternoon.

Dr. Poswal, too, attended to many of the injured and recommended shifting some patients to Srinagar hospitals for specialised treatment. However, when his son Faizan, a Class 10 student, was brought to the hospital with upper body firearm wounds, the doctor made repeated bids “to revive his son”.

“After repeated attempts failed to revive him, the father declared his son ‘brought dead’,” recalled his colleague. The father stood by the body for a while and then covered his son’s face with a shroud.

Faizan had been hit by a bullet in the chest, as clashes broke out in parts of Pulwama. Later, the locals lifted the body amid angry slogans and transported it via ambulance to Pampore’s Gosannad-Ludhow area, where the family hails from.