Mehmooda lost her husband Shahnawaz Ahmed Mir, a driver, in a road accident at Udhampur in 2009. Mehmooda was left with a daughter and two sons. Her younger son Amir is mentally challenged.
First her house was razed and then her 14-year old son was detained by police, Mahmooda, a widow, screamed while requesting for the release of her son.
“First the government forces destroyed my house and then my son Faisal was detained. What is our fault, why did they make us homeless?” asked Mehmooda, crying inconsolably.
Mehmooda lost her husband Shahnawaz Ahmed Mir, a driver, in a road accident at Udhampur in 2009. Mehmooda was left with a daughter and two sons. Her younger son Amir is mentally challenged.
Near the debris of the house people were collecting money for this poor family and little Amir was searching for his toys.
Mehmooda returned from police station Tral after failing to get her son released. At Aripal thousands of people were waiting for her. “Don’t worry everything will be alright. These are testing times from God,” people consoled Mehmooda near her razed house.
Recalling the horrors of the gunfight at her house, she said: “On the snowy Saturday morning a masked army soldier entered into my house and asked about the presence of a militant. I denied because I knew there was none except me and my children. Within no time forces opened fire and asked us to vacate.”
“I assured them that there was no militant inside but they did not listen to my pleas and destroyed our house. They deliberately razed my house and eventually could not find any militant,” said Mehmooda.
She accused the forces of ruining the life of a widow. “I don’t have any source of income apart from a petty amount which I get for working as a sweeper. My husband has died and my little children are now homeless,” she rued.
Mehmooda’s nephew Asif Ahmed Mir said, “Had the forces began the operation with regular searches, things wouldn’t have been worse for this downtrodden family. They took the 14 year old boy into custody and forced him to make a statement that there was a militant hiding in his house.”
A police official however said a militant was present in the house who escaped.
The Story Was Published in Greater Kashmir Largest Circulated Daily Of Jammu Kashmir