The 'studious' 12-year-old victim of India's Kashmir problem

[Pakpak]

The day 12-year-old Faizan Fayaz Dar died, he woke up in the morning in his hilltop home in Budgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, had a cup of salted tea, recited the Koran and pottered around in the kitchen where his mother prepared breakfast for the family.
His grandmother offered him a plate of grapes, but she doesn't remember whether Faizan had it. The son of a farmer then put on his pheran, the woollen cape-like garment Kashmiris wear, and quietly left for his Sunday lessons.
A few hours later, Faizan lay dead near a sun-baked school playground, ringed by bare walnut and willow trees. Paramilitary soldiers, eyewitnesses alleged, had shot him in the back of his head.

Carrying a packet of biscuits, he was returning home on a bright, nippy morning when he encountered a throng of local people protesting against Indian rule near the school, where polling was taking place for a parliamentary by-election.

Eyewitnesses say four shots rang out of the single-storey, squat school building which, according to some reports, was being pelted with stones thrown by protesters from a hill above and from the road in front.
Faizan possibly halted to find out what the commotion was all about, and was hit by a bullet. Two neighbours ran up to his home to deliver the news. His mother had sprinted down to the playground, hugged her bleeding son and let others take him to hospital.

"I knew he was gone," Zarifa told me.

A heart-wrenching video recorded by a villager on his mobile phone minutes after the killing shows a wailing man cradling the dead boy, blood streaming down his broken face, in a packed vehicle taking him to the nearest hospital. There, the doctors declared him dead.
Faizan's final journey is recorded on another mobile phone video: his slight frame, draped in white, bobbing slightly on a hospital cot, carried through a sea of weeping, agitated mourners extolling their latest "martyr". By late afternoon, his body was lowered into the grave near his village, Dalwan.
Faizan was among the eight people killed on Sunday when paramilitary soldiers fired bullets and shotgun pellets at those protesting against Indian rule at polling centres near Srinagar, the summer capital. Election authorities say some 170 people, including 100 security personnel, were injured in about 200 incidents of stone pelting and violent protests on the day.

The voter turnout in Sunday's election was an abysmal 7.1% - the lowest in decades - and came as a huge setback for the region's mainstream parties.
The soldiers had been brought in from other states to secure polling stations and may have been unprepared to deal with "protests and provocation" in a complex conflict zone like Kashmir, a senior official told me.
One report said the police had registered complaints against the paramilitary forces for firing into the crowds.
Separatist groups had rejected the elections and urged voters to boycott Sunday's poll, which took place after a politician resigned over what he described as the "anti-people" agenda of the Indian government.
Disillusioned voters - even in relatively peaceful places like Dalwan where people turned out to cast their votes enthusiastically in previous elections - generally stayed away.
Why Faizan was killed on a day when local voters rejected the ballot is not clear.
Why the death of a militant has Kashmiris up in arms
The teenager blinded by pellets in Kashmir
Kashmir profile
By all accounts, he was not pelting stones or hurling abuse at the soldiers. One report said police fired tear gas shells to keep the protesters away from the empty polling station, but the soldiers opened fire.
Whatever it is, Faizan became another grisly statistic in Kashmir's unending tragedy.
The school yard where the killing took placeImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Faizan was shot near this school playground
Children stand next to anti-India graffiti on the school wallImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Children stand next to anti-India graffiti on the school wall
A picture taken by his friend on his mobile phone during their winter break shows the shy-looking boy - "he would often top his class, and he was very knowledgeable about the world," the friend said - clad in a woollen cap and collared jacket, peering uneasily into the camera.
"He was quiet and studious, he was doing well in school. He played cricket, and counted [former Indian captain] MS Dhoni as his favourite cricketer. He wanted to become a doctor," a cousin told me, when I visited the family.
Grief is the price one pays for love. Zarifa's lament for her dead son filled the still air inside a tent outside their home where local women had gathered to mourn.
"My son, my son, where will I find you now?" she cried, again and again.
Then she stepped out of the tent, entered her home and joined her husband in a dank, cold room. He sat there, stoic and numb, surrounded by mourners, and gazed vacantly at the pastel pink walls. The room had a red carpet and red window curtains.
"The blood of a martyr never goes waste," said Fayaz Ahmad Dar. "One day, the blood of innocents will help us gain our freedom [from Indian rule]."
Anonymous stone pelterImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Many young men said they had thrown stones at Indian forces
A brief silence followed. Zarifa broke it, bemoaning the loss of her boy.
"I am looking at your books, I am looking at your school bags. How will I touch your books again, my son? Everybody would talk about your intelligence, how you would answer every question with so much wit."
Outside the secondary school - Enter to learn, Leave to serve, its motto, is engraved on the walls - a group of young men gathered later in the day. Their eyes seethed in anger. They spoke about frustration, alienation, desperation, humiliation and hopelessness.
They said they had lost their fear of life. They insisted that they helped rebels because "they are our brothers and don't kill civilians" and are "fighting for freedom".
More than half of them raised their hands when asked whether they had pelted stones at Indian forces.
Faizan's mother (in the centre)Image copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Mother Zarifa (in the centre) is mourning the loss of her 12-year-old son
"We are not safe in our own homes, we are not safe on streets. They are killing little boys now. Life is uncertain," said Feroze Ali, a school clerk.
Since February alone, some two dozen civilians have been killed during gunfights between armed rebels and security forces. The security forces have accused civilians of helping rebels escape.
The army says it has tried to reach out and engage with civilians through its 29 schools, youth clubs and cricket tournaments.
Recently some 19,000 Kashmiri young men applied for a few hundred vacancies in the army.
"Provocation and panic can lead to accidents. Security forces often fire when they face life threatening situations. But protecting civilians remains our first priority in this situation. When a civilian dies, it hurts us," an army officer told me.
The region has seen heightened tension and increased unrest since July when influential militant Burhan Wani was killed by Indian forces. More than 100 civilians lost their lives in clashes with protesters during a four-month-long lockdown, including a 55-day-curfew, in the restive Muslim-majority valley.
Clashes between security forces and stone pelters in Kashmir have become routineImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Clashes between security forces and stone pelters in Kashmir have become routine
A stone pelterImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Young men are angry in a region where 40% have no jobs
Kashmir, clearly, appears to be teetering on the brink of an open public revolt against Indian rule.
Many say the federal government's near-complete lack of engagement and dialogue with local stakeholders and Pakistan, a complete mistrust of the local government and a lack of development and jobs have left most people jittery and alienated.
Militancy continues to be at low ebb - there are an estimated 250 militants in the state now of which 150 are local - compared to several thousand during the peak of insurgency in the 1990s.
But young Kashmiris - more than 60% of the men in the valley are under 30, and more than 40% of men in Kashmir are jobless - are restless and angry. The local political parties are in danger of "becoming irrelevant", as a leader of an opposition party told me.
"This is the worst situation that I have seen. Earlier, it was a movement led by the militants. Now it is being led by the people," says Feroze Ali, 35, a schoolteacher.
"India needs to be worried, very worried about this."


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39586912

 

[big_gamer007]

40% unemployment, no development governments have lost the plot decades ago.. RIP

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

The day 12-year-old Faizan Fayaz Dar died, he woke up in the morning in his hilltop home in Budgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, had a cup of salted tea, recited the Koran and pottered around in the kitchen where his mother prepared breakfast for the family.
His grandmother offered him a plate of grapes, but she doesn't remember whether Faizan had it. The son of a farmer then put on his pheran, the woollen cape-like garment Kashmiris wear, and quietly left for his Sunday lessons.
A few hours later, Faizan lay dead near a sun-baked school playground, ringed by bare walnut and willow trees. Paramilitary soldiers, eyewitnesses alleged, had shot him in the back of his head.

Carrying a packet of biscuits, he was returning home on a bright, nippy morning when he encountered a throng of local people protesting against Indian rule near the school, where polling was taking place for a parliamentary by-election.

Eyewitnesses say four shots rang out of the single-storey, squat school building which, according to some reports, was being pelted with stones thrown by protesters from a hill above and from the road in front.
Faizan possibly halted to find out what the commotion was all about, and was hit by a bullet. Two neighbours ran up to his home to deliver the news. His mother had sprinted down to the playground, hugged her bleeding son and let others take him to hospital.

"I knew he was gone," Zarifa told me.

A heart-wrenching video recorded by a villager on his mobile phone minutes after the killing shows a wailing man cradling the dead boy, blood streaming down his broken face, in a packed vehicle taking him to the nearest hospital. There, the doctors declared him dead.
Faizan's final journey is recorded on another mobile phone video: his slight frame, draped in white, bobbing slightly on a hospital cot, carried through a sea of weeping, agitated mourners extolling their latest "martyr". By late afternoon, his body was lowered into the grave near his village, Dalwan.
Faizan was among the eight people killed on Sunday when paramilitary soldiers fired bullets and shotgun pellets at those protesting against Indian rule at polling centres near Srinagar, the summer capital. Election authorities say some 170 people, including 100 security personnel, were injured in about 200 incidents of stone pelting and violent protests on the day.

The voter turnout in Sunday's election was an abysmal 7.1% - the lowest in decades - and came as a huge setback for the region's mainstream parties.
The soldiers had been brought in from other states to secure polling stations and may have been unprepared to deal with "protests and provocation" in a complex conflict zone like Kashmir, a senior official told me.
One report said the police had registered complaints against the paramilitary forces for firing into the crowds.
Separatist groups had rejected the elections and urged voters to boycott Sunday's poll, which took place after a politician resigned over what he described as the "anti-people" agenda of the Indian government.
Disillusioned voters - even in relatively peaceful places like Dalwan where people turned out to cast their votes enthusiastically in previous elections - generally stayed away.
Why Faizan was killed on a day when local voters rejected the ballot is not clear.
Why the death of a militant has Kashmiris up in arms
The teenager blinded by pellets in Kashmir
Kashmir profile
By all accounts, he was not pelting stones or hurling abuse at the soldiers. One report said police fired tear gas shells to keep the protesters away from the empty polling station, but the soldiers opened fire.
Whatever it is, Faizan became another grisly statistic in Kashmir's unending tragedy.
The school yard where the killing took placeImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Faizan was shot near this school playground
Children stand next to anti-India graffiti on the school wallImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Children stand next to anti-India graffiti on the school wall
A picture taken by his friend on his mobile phone during their winter break shows the shy-looking boy - "he would often top his class, and he was very knowledgeable about the world," the friend said - clad in a woollen cap and collared jacket, peering uneasily into the camera.
"He was quiet and studious, he was doing well in school. He played cricket, and counted [former Indian captain] MS Dhoni as his favourite cricketer. He wanted to become a doctor," a cousin told me, when I visited the family.
Grief is the price one pays for love. Zarifa's lament for her dead son filled the still air inside a tent outside their home where local women had gathered to mourn.
"My son, my son, where will I find you now?" she cried, again and again.
Then she stepped out of the tent, entered her home and joined her husband in a dank, cold room. He sat there, stoic and numb, surrounded by mourners, and gazed vacantly at the pastel pink walls. The room had a red carpet and red window curtains.
"The blood of a martyr never goes waste," said Fayaz Ahmad Dar. "One day, the blood of innocents will help us gain our freedom [from Indian rule]."
Anonymous stone pelterImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Many young men said they had thrown stones at Indian forces
A brief silence followed. Zarifa broke it, bemoaning the loss of her boy.
"I am looking at your books, I am looking at your school bags. How will I touch your books again, my son? Everybody would talk about your intelligence, how you would answer every question with so much wit."
Outside the secondary school - Enter to learn, Leave to serve, its motto, is engraved on the walls - a group of young men gathered later in the day. Their eyes seethed in anger. They spoke about frustration, alienation, desperation, humiliation and hopelessness.
They said they had lost their fear of life. They insisted that they helped rebels because "they are our brothers and don't kill civilians" and are "fighting for freedom".
More than half of them raised their hands when asked whether they had pelted stones at Indian forces.
Faizan's mother (in the centre)Image copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Mother Zarifa (in the centre) is mourning the loss of her 12-year-old son
"We are not safe in our own homes, we are not safe on streets. They are killing little boys now. Life is uncertain," said Feroze Ali, a school clerk.
Since February alone, some two dozen civilians have been killed during gunfights between armed rebels and security forces. The security forces have accused civilians of helping rebels escape.
The army says it has tried to reach out and engage with civilians through its 29 schools, youth clubs and cricket tournaments.
Recently some 19,000 Kashmiri young men applied for a few hundred vacancies in the army.
"Provocation and panic can lead to accidents. Security forces often fire when they face life threatening situations. But protecting civilians remains our first priority in this situation. When a civilian dies, it hurts us," an army officer told me.
The region has seen heightened tension and increased unrest since July when influential militant Burhan Wani was killed by Indian forces. More than 100 civilians lost their lives in clashes with protesters during a four-month-long lockdown, including a 55-day-curfew, in the restive Muslim-majority valley.
Clashes between security forces and stone pelters in Kashmir have become routineImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Clashes between security forces and stone pelters in Kashmir have become routine
A stone pelterImage copyrightABID BHAT
Image caption
Young men are angry in a region where 40% have no jobs
Kashmir, clearly, appears to be teetering on the brink of an open public revolt against Indian rule.
Many say the federal government's near-complete lack of engagement and dialogue with local stakeholders and Pakistan, a complete mistrust of the local government and a lack of development and jobs have left most people jittery and alienated.
Militancy continues to be at low ebb - there are an estimated 250 militants in the state now of which 150 are local - compared to several thousand during the peak of insurgency in the 1990s.
But young Kashmiris - more than 60% of the men in the valley are under 30, and more than 40% of men in Kashmir are jobless - are restless and angry. The local political parties are in danger of "becoming irrelevant", as a leader of an opposition party told me.
"This is the worst situation that I have seen. Earlier, it was a movement led by the militants. Now it is being led by the people," says Feroze Ali, 35, a schoolteacher.
"India needs to be worried, very worried about this."


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39586912

I couldn't read more after just going through half of it tbh.......... I have a kid brother of the exact same age and reading about this is just gut wrenching.....

May the parents of this innocent child find peace in the hearts on this tragic tragic loss of life......

 

[Madplayer]

40% unemployment, no development governments have lost the plot decades ago.. RIP

They lost the plot in 1947 when their greed for land overpowered their moral and ethical responsibilities towards the people of jammu Kashmir who they had promised their right to self determination. Their actions after that have done nothing but amplified the problems they created.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

The other side of the story that is often unheard in this side.

Now this family will hate India till their dying breaths.

I think government should do a LOT more for Kashmir people.

Situation has gotten so complicated that neither India or Pakistan will (or could) concede anything.

With enough development in Kashmir, bringing in Pundits to Kashmir, removal of army, such instances will reduce and peace will prevail.

Till then....its chaos only.

 

[Fantasy]

This is absolutely gut wrenching.

In 2010,7 year old,Sameer,went out to buy candies. Walking home, he was bludgeoned to death, thrown in bushes with a half bitten candy in his mouth.

Another story I would like to share with you guys is about the boy,who happens to be our relative as wellfrom the same village mentioned,Dalwan,who was murdered by security forces on the same day as this kid a few days ago.

Last year his brother was killed by his friend as he was carrying some 20 thousand bucks or so.His brother was an engineer and he used to work in Saudi Arabia.On coming back home after 2 years,his mother was ecstatic as her son has finally come home.Everyone seemed to be happy.Life going smooth.

Before a day he had to go back,his friend called him to come over to his home and he told him that he will go to Saudi with him.In the night,they were having a discussion as how much money they have got with themselves.He told his friend that he had 20 thousand rupees or so.

In the night,out of the greed,his frend murdered him with a butcher's machete,brutally.He had planned to kill him with a rope but that didn't materialized,so he used a machete.H is family members called him on his phone number the whole night but to no avail and only to find on the morning that he has been killed.

After that I remember his mother went absolute numb.She went into a shell.She locked down his room and didn't allow anyone to get to his room.The scenes on his funeral were absolutely draining.I remember my mother walking away from there as she couldn't handle the emotions pouring out of almost everyone.

Now this son,who was murdered a few days back,used to console her mother and used to say I will be doing some big things for you.But just as the fate has it that would never happen,ever.

On the day he was murdered,he went out with his friends,only to be short dead by a bullet for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Now into his funeral you couldn't see one guy who wasn't in tears.From youth to children to elderly men.Everyone mourning and just asking to themselves what have we done wrong and did this guy do wrong?

The agony on her mother's face is something which is indescribable.You have to see it in order to feel it.That is something which I can't write here in some words.I can just say she now is a walking dead body and best thing that can happen to her now is DEATH.Besides,his father has gone to a state where he is not able to stand stll now.The agony on their faces has made me realise what it means to loose the one or ones you love the most.

Just imagine the pain and agony his mother have to go through and she is not the only one in Kashmir.You will them in hundreds and maybe thousands.You wouldn't hear some words like half widows,half wives,half mothers in any part of the world.They are the ones who crave for their sons,husbands or fathers to see their face once.At the very least to see their DEAD faces once.

From some days I am not able to concentrate on anything.I am in a free falling state. Nothing seem to work at thia point in time.

I would just request to some posters here that just don't see Kashmir with the eyes of your media.There is a bigger story than that and there is a world behind what see through the lense of your fake media.

 

[troodon]

^ All the stories above, any proof that army did it?

Kid got shot and died. Easy to spin it around and blame it on the army.

What would army gain by shooting 6 year olds? Does not make sense.

If army want to commit genocide, it would not take long. What would army achieve by killing a few kids here and there?

Probably done by separatists and blaming the army to rile up people and by them into their philosophy of freedom from India.

 

[Fantasy]

^ All the stories above, any proof that army did it?

Kid got shot and died. Easy to spin it around and blame it on the army.

What would army gain by shooting 6 year olds? Does not make sense.

If army want to commit genocide, it would not take long. What would army achieve by killing a few kids here and there?

Probably done by separatists and blaming the army to rile up people and by them into their philosophy of freedom from India.

Firstly,let me make it very clear that I haven't heard any separatist leader say this and trying to rile some people up.

Q1)Any proof that army did it?
A) Do you really think eye witnesses there who are in huge numbers are all lying.When a guy is hit on his neck with a bullet with only the armymen around with guns what do you make out of that? It can't be as someone from the skies has come and shoot.

2)What will army gain by shooting a 6 year old?
A) They don't necessarily shoot at the kids but what they do is absolute cruelty.They open fire fire at the people indiscriminantly(sometimes at pitch blank (?)range) and obviously that will include everyone from kids to youth to elderly men.

 

[www787]

The other side of the story that is often unheard in this side.

Now this family will hate India till their dying breaths.

I think government should do a LOT more for Kashmir people.

Situation has gotten so complicated that neither India or Pakistan will (or could) concede anything.

With enough development in Kashmir, bringing in Pundits to Kashmir, removal of army, such instances will reduce and peace will prevail.

Till then....its chaos only.

I do not see that happening any time in near future, and the only reason i say that because the hate for Muslims in ruling class is bigger than prosperity and integrity of India as a secular nation.

 

[troodon]

Firstly,let me make it very clear that I haven't heard any separatist leader say this and trying to rile some people up.

Q1)Any proof that army did it?
A) Do you really think eye witnesses there who are in huge numbers are all lying.When a guy is hit on his neck with a bullet with only the armymen around with guns what do you make out of that? It can't be as someone from the skies has come and shoot.

2)What will army gain by shooting a 6 year old?
A) They don't necessarily shoot at the kids but what they do is absolute cruelty.They open fire fire at the people indiscriminantly(sometimes at pitch blank (?)range) and obviously that will include everyone from kids to youth to elderly men.

Again.
Q1)
Its easy to carry a gun and hide it in your pants. You can shoot anyone in the crowd and blame it on the Army men.
Any separatist wanting to create unrest can easily do it.

Q2)
They open fire indicriminately.

What are kids as young as 6 year olds doing fighting army? Do 6 year olds even know what an army is or what a Gun can do? What kind of cowards put kids and elderly men between them and the army?

If you think Army just fires indiscriminately for fun on peaceful citizens minding their own business walking on the street, then I will be the first one to curse Indian army.

I strongly support army to show utmost restraint in containing unruly crowds. Protesters should never use under age kids and old people as shields to throw stones at army either.

 

[big_gamer007]

They lost the plot in 1947 when their greed for land overpowered their moral and ethical responsibilities towards the people of jammu Kashmir who they had promised their right to self determination. Their actions after that have done nothing but amplified the problems they created.

Didn't Pakistan attack Kashmir first in 1948 till then Kashmir was independent well under maharajas control but not part of India or Pakistan.. You can blame Indian government all you want but its Pakistan is as much responsible for this mess as us..

Anyways all these discussions here are useless one can only hope and pray peace and prosperity comes to every region on this planet..

 

[Wasim_Waqar]

Didn't Pakistan attack Kashmir first in 1948 till then Kashmir was independent well under maharajas control but not part of India or Pakistan.. You can blame Indian government all you want but its Pakistan is as much responsible for this mess as us..

Anyways all these discussions here are useless one can only hope and pray peace and prosperity comes to every region on this planet..

Nope. I'm from Kashmir. Read Snedden book.

Poonchis rebelled because they got wind of Brits (Nehru affair with Mountbatten wife) changing Jammu access to India from original plan of Pak.

Therefore the Poonchis rebelled.

Indians invaded and Poonchis and Pathans launched a rebellion to get as much of Kashmir as possible. Just missed out on Srinagar airport

 

[big_gamer007]

Nope. I'm from Kashmir. Read Snedden book.

Poonchis rebelled because they got wind of Brits (Nehru affair with Mountbatten wife) changing Jammu access to India from original plan of Pak.

Therefore the Poonchis rebelled.

Indians invaded and Poonchis and Pathans launched a rebellion to get as much of Kashmir as possible. Just missed out on Srinagar airport ��

Really? I don't know much about it but what I wrote I got to know that through some posts here in PP.. can you provide some link will like to read the details..

 

[big_gamer007]

Nope. I'm from Kashmir. Read Snedden book.

Poonchis rebelled because they got wind of Brits (Nehru affair with Mountbatten wife) changing Jammu access to India from original plan of Pak.

Therefore the Poonchis rebelled.

Indians invaded and Poonchis and Pathans launched a rebellion to get as much of Kashmir as possible. Just missed out on Srinagar airport ��

Also why would Mountbatten give Jammu to India if Nehru had affair with his wife? He gave favours to the person having affair with his own wife? Why would anyone do that doesn't make sense..

 

[big_gamer007]

Nope. I'm from Kashmir. Read Snedden book.

Poonchis rebelled because they got wind of Brits (Nehru affair with Mountbatten wife) changing Jammu access to India from original plan of Pak.

Therefore the Poonchis rebelled.

Indians invaded and Poonchis and Pathans launched a rebellion to get as much of Kashmir as possible. Just missed out on Srinagar airport ��

Actually read an article and it said Pakistan was supplying arms and intelligence and encouraging rebellion.. So my original post stands Pakistan is as much resoponsible in Kashmir mess as anyone else..