Kupwara: “Mother I am bleeding,” were the last words of the youngest victim of cross border shelling Ziyan. He rushed to his mother’s lap and breathed his last within no time.
Majeed Ahmad Kataria, uncle of Ziyan, talking exclusively to news agency —Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that at the time when cross border shelling started on Sunday, all the kids were playing outside.
“As the intense shelling started, I fell flat on and my brother along with Ziyan and my kids ran towards their home. While rushing towards home, a splinter hit Ziyan and he called his mother saying he was hit,” said Kataria. “He found solace in his mother’s lap and breathed his last there only.”
Ziyan’s father was also injured while running for cover. “A splinter hit the left hand my brother Bashir Ahmad Kataria,” he said. He said that Ziyan was hit in his head and forehead just outside the door of his house. “In the corridor of his house, his mother was waiting for him,” Kataria told KNO.
He said Ziyan’s mother Naziya Begum saw her son’s head injured and blood oozing from the wounds. “She cried for help amid tears, but it was all over for Ziyan,” said Kataria.
Ziyan was not even able to shout out of the pain he suffered. “The heavy exchange of artillery was going on when he was hit. We couldn’t manage to rescue and evacuate him for medical attention,” Katria said. “Naziya went to him and held him in her lap and kept weeping in absence of any help for long, even after grave injury to him the exchange was going for at least next 15 minutes.”
He said the moment resembled the dooms day when he saw Ziyan’s father felling to his injuries and mother holding his dead son craving for help shouting to the sky. “The scene was really scary and everything was so disturbing and threatening like we all may get killed like him,” Kataria said.
Ziyan’s mother Naziya is in a deep shock, not able to utter a word. Perhaps, she is not able to come terms as it is not easy to see a minor son dying in her lap. It may be recalled that after April 5 episode when five militants and five soldiers of Special Forces Squad were killed in Keran sector of Kupwara, tension started mounted on the LoC in the district.
However, Sunday horror triggered by heavy exchange of mortar shells by the armies of India and Pakistan claimed three lives including a minor. The locals said they can’t forget the damage caused by Sunday shelling for years together as it was worst ever shelling they witnessed so far—(KNO)