Ifra Parvaiz
“I hope you have reached home safely and are enjoying a lot. As soon as you receive this letter send a reply expressing your joyfulness and also mention when you are coming back to Bangalore. You might have been waiting for your good result. I assure you the same. No more special thing to write.”
On 10 August 1992, Mehmood ul Hassan Farooqi received a letter from his son’s college professor at his residence in Srinagar’s Lal Bazar. His son Taj u Din Farooqi was an engineering student at Bangalore College.
Tajuddin (18) had returned home after spending a year in Bangalore. He was excited that soon his first-year results will be out. Imtiyazudin (13) was home on that Friday, as Srinagar was shut.
On the fateful day of 31 July 1992, Mehmood ul Hassan Farooqi lost his two young sons to the bullets of Indian armed forces.
A Local on the condition of anonymity told The Kashmiriyat that “on the day, the locals heard some gunshots in the area and soon there was a rumour that Militants had fired upon a BSF convoy near the Lal Bazar where Farooqi’s house was situated.”
He added, “Following the incident, the BSF troopers in large numbers cordoned off the area. They knocked at the door of Farooqi’s residence. The younger son, Imtiyaz, who was an 8th class student opened the door anticipating that it was his father who had gone to Hazratbal to offer Friday prayers. Imtiyaz was met with a volley of bullets straight into his head. He died there on spot.”
The BSF men entered Farooqi’s house and dragged Tajuddin to the lane outside their house and shot him in the chest. When his two wailing sisters followed the BSF men, they were beaten with gun butts repeatedly and pushed inside the house.
“Afterwards, they locked the door from outside. Tajuddin, who was breathing for more than an hour, could have been saved if he was rushed to hospital but the door was closed from outside,” the local said, adding, “The BSF men intimidated the neighbours and relatives to not help Taj u Din who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.”
They killed both the boys before leaving the place. The grandfather of the two deceased, Mohammed Yaqoob Qurashi, died the same day of shock after he heard the news of both his grandchildrens’ death, he said.
Farooqi has been running from pillar to post since then, in pursuit of justice but to no avail. He has been demanding to punish the killers of his two innocent young sons.
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An F.I.R No. 162/92 U/S 302 and 307 RPC has been registered against the forces, which is pending disposal. Though valuable evidence as per the then Dy. S.P Masood of Police Station Nigeen had been collected but nothing has come out till date.
In 1996, Farooqi approached the National Human Rights Commission of India with his complaint and they wrote to the then Chief Secretary of Jammu Kashmir, Ashok Jaitley, to continue the case.
Even though justice remains a distant dream for Farooqi, he had once said in one of his interviews that he will fight “as long as I am alive.”
Farooqi had even pinned his hopes on the then visiting President of India APJ Abdul Kalam, who had visited Kashmir for 2 days back in 2006. Abdul Kalam was very fond of children. Farooqi hoped that it would be this love that may help him get justice and bring the killers to justice.
According to reports, in 2016, he was told by some officials that the killers have been punished to which Farooqi responded by asking that what kind of punishment was it and when were they punished. He assumed they were lying to him.
The Farooqi’s have battled for justice ever since, but they have never let the memories of their deceased children fade away. Inside the house of Farooqi’s, a Football, Cricket bat, Carrom board, a few books fill his son’s room which has never been opened since July 31 of 1992.