The horrific incident of July 1, 2020 in Sopore has shocked
the world. The brute Indian forces shot a 65-year-old man dead in front of his
three-year-old grandson, who was accompanying him in the middle of town where
they had come to draw a cheque from the bank.The goons in uniform dragged Bashir
Ahmed Khan out, shot him several times and did not stop here. They threw his
grandson on his dead body and snapped photographs to send across through social
media, making mockery of the misery of that senior citizen lying dead in the
pool of blood.
This incident has really shocked the world, the heads may kneel in shame, but
the question is whether the world community will condemn India and Modi’s
fascist government that, analysts believe, is deliberately committing such
incidents which are aimed at diverting world’s attention from New Delhi’s
embarrassment at the hands of the Chinese in Ladakh and Galwan. The picture went
viral on social media like a jungle fire and has drawn widespread hatred against
the brute Indian forces and the barbaric Modi government. The picture staged in
a way to mock the misery of the child wailing on the blood stained corpse of his
grandfather is not just a heart wrenching sight, but it is a killing pain in the
heart.
Thousands of enraged people in Occupied Kashmir staged widespread protests on
July 1 against the killing of innocent elderly man, whose grandson was later
left badly weeping and wailing helplessly sitting on Bashir Ahmed Khan’s dead
body, dazed and traumatized. The forces, according to eyewitnesses, dragged the
elderly man out of his car and shot him dead, leaving his body in pool of blood.
Later, the troopers in uniform put the child on his chest as the grandfather lay
dead on the road; they took photographs to make the mockery of his corpse. The
toddler was accompanying his grandfather for drawing cash from a bank situated
in the heart ofSorpore town. Later, in the afternoon, hundreds of Kashmiris
gathered at the old man’s funeral, chanting slogans of “We want freedom.”
Bashir Ahmed Khan’s daughter said that her father had gone to the bank to cash a
cheque and on the way he was dragged out of his car and then shot in cold blood.
Without naming anyone, she said her father's killers did not care about the
3-year-old child who was accompanying him. “Who shoots a person in front of a
3-year-old kid?”, she asked in deep anguish. The victim’s wife said thather
3-year-old grandson was deliberately made to sit on the corpse of her husband.
“My brother was not a militant. He did not carry a gun. Why was he killed?”,
asked Nazir Ahmad, the brother of victim Bashir Ahmed. “If you want, I can come
with you to meet the top police officers to counter their claims.”
“We received a call that my father had met with an accident," Bashir’s son,
Suhail said. “When we reached Sopore, we were told he was killed in a crossfire.
If it was a crossfire, his body should've been inside the car, but it was found
on the road.”Aijaz Ahmad Qudsi, Bashir Ahmed’s nephew, told Anadolu Agency that
his deceased uncle’s car was unharmed, with not even a scratch. He claimed that
the 65-year-old was dragged out from his car and then shot by the armed forces.
The family members also accused the security forces of putting the child on the
deceased civilian’s body "for taking pictures”. “They dragged the body out and
put the child on top. The child’s clothes were drenched in his grandfather’s
blood”. The family said the man was a small-time employee who earned Rs 6,000
per month.
The incident echoed the killing of 12-year-old Palestinian child Muhammad al
Durra in September 2000, whose father, Jamal al Durra, tried his best to shield
him from Israeli gunfire, taking several injuries. The boy’s killers were never
brought to justice but the photograph of young Durra screaming behind his father
remained etched in the memory of almost every Palestinian.
Reacting to the July 1 Sopore incident, Amnesty India said that the security
forces had violated the law by disclosing the identity of the minor. “It is also
a breach of the ‘best interests of the child’ principle as required to be the
basis of any action by authorities under the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, to which India is a state party.” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
said that the image of the three-year-old sitting on his grandfather’s
“lifeless, bullet-ridden body” exposed the real face of Narendra Modi’s “fascist
India”. Leader of the oppositionShehbaz Sharif also condemned the killing. In a
tweet, he said: Widespread human rights abuses by fascist Modi government
constitute an acid test for the international community.” Tweeting the picture
of the deceased’s grandson sitting on his chest, Pakistan FO spokesperson Aisha
Farooqui said she was “searching for words to describe (…) the grief and
helplessness of the Kashmiri people.”Terming killing of a civilian right in
front of his 3-year-old grandson by the Indian forcesas a chilling reminder of
Nazi oppression, senior vice chairman Jammu Kashmir National Front Altaf Hussain
Wani said that the soul-wrenching photo of atoddler crying on the chest of his
dead grandfather speaks volumes about India’sfascism and its racial
undercurrents.
The world felt the pain and anger of the Kashmiris and cited against this
horrific incident. Kashmiris have been suffering at the hands of Indians for a
long time. The decades of brutality and human rights violations are unimaginable
and inconceivable. As hundreds of children lay blinded by the pallet guns, this
incident adds fuel to the already igniting fire of freedom for the Kashmiris.
Oppressed and tortured Kashmir is driving India to a point of no return. As Nazi
inspired Indian government gets bolder in its brutality against Kashmiris, India
is gradually being compelled into isolation for the crimes against humanity. It
is about time that India is brought to answer for the innocent blood spilled in
Kashmir and the decades of atrocious and bare barbaric are accounted for.
(The writer is freelance columnist based in Islamabad)