Bhat Yasir
In June 2005, a gunman barged inside Lateef Magray’s house at Thatharka in Ramban’s Gool area and shot his cousin dead. The gunman also shot at Magray, who retaliated and hit the gunman on his head with a huge rock. The gunman named Yasir Bhat of Lashkar-e-Taiba died there, on the spot, Magray recalls.
After the incident, Magray was awarded by the Indian Army. Magray recalls post that incident, he worked as an informer for the Indian Army for the next six years.
In 2011, the then Governor N.N. Vohra awarded Magray a gold medal for his work in combating militancy.
ALSO READ: Alienation grows in Kashmir as bodies of the dead aren’t returned to families
Ten years later, Magray’s videos requesting the authorities to return his son’s dead body are doing rounds on social media. The 55-year-old is disillusioned and inconsolable. His 22 year old son, Amir Magray was one of the four killed on Monday in Hyderpora, Srinagar. The police says he was a “militant,” while Magray outrightly denied the claim.
“How can they label my son of all people as a militant? He was only a servant who worked with a family for the last seven months,” Magray said.
Around 1829 HRS on Monday, the Jammu Kashmir Police through its official twitter handle announced that an encounter raged in the Bemina locality of Srinagar. Six minutes after the tweet, Jammu Kashmir Police announced, “#SrinagarEncounterUpdate: 01 unidentified (#militant) killed. #Operation going on. Further details shall follow.”
Around 2025 HRS, through one more tweet, the Jammu Kashmir Police said one more militant had been killed during the encounter, taking the toll to two.
Around 10 PM, the Police announced that Altaf, the house owner had been killed during the encounter. They tweeted, “#SrinagarEncounterUpdate: The house owner who was injured in (militant) fire, succumbed to his injuries. (#Militants) have been hiding on top floor of his building. As per source and digital evidence, he has been working as (#militant) associate. Search is still going on: IGP Kashmir.”
Later that night the family of Altaf denouncing the claims of Police hit the streets. Sloganeering, while also wailing, they demanded that they be given right to bury Altaf and have a proper funeral for him. As the protest was going on, some of his family members reached the Police Control Room in Srinagar where they were informed, “the bodies have been dispatched to Kupwara.”
The IGP Kashmir during a Press Conference on Tuesday said that one foreign militant, his local associate was killed in Hyderpora gunfight. He also said that an OGW and a building owner was killed in a crossfire. Among the slain was Amir, son of Lateef Magray
“I have no expectations now. I fought for nothing all my life. All I want is my son’s body. I am saying this because I know he wasn’t a militant. Prove me wrong and I won’t ask for the body,” Lateef Magray told The Kashmiriyat.
Denial of Dead Bodies
After covid-19 hit the globe, the authorities in Jammu Kashmir banned mass funerals in Kashmir. The globe saw these mass funerals as a massive political statement emerging out of Kashmir. However, the security agencies saw that as a breeding ground for Militancy and Militant recruitment.
In December 2020, the Inspector General of Police said that so far, 158 Militants had been buried at isolated locations in Baramulla, Ganderbal and Handwara areas in the presence of magistrates and families.
“We have not only stopped the spread of COVID infection but also stopped glamourising Militancy and avoided potential law and order problems. This action is historical one,” the inspector General of Jammu Kashmir Police, Vijay Kumar had said.
ALSO READ: Family Protesting For Slain Mudasir’s Body Told ‘Body Dispatched To Handwara’
Since then, there have been protests and demands by families to get the bodies of their children so that they can perform the last rites of their children.
Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, father of Athar Mushtaq Wani from Pulwama, who was among the three killed in the encounter on December 30, dug a grave for his son, Athar. He wailed, mourned and pleaded asking for the dead body of his son making a claiming similar as the survivor families of Monday’s encounter – “Athar was innocent.”
During COVID-19 lockdown, when the labour crisis hit the globe, Jammu Kashmir too suffered job crisis. Amir, who was unemployed, also went to Srinagar, where his sister’s family resided. “His sister’s husband worked there and they decided to adjust Amir, also,” Magray said, adding that “the doctor there (Mudasir Gul) appointed him as an errand boy.”
Back home in Saripora Thatharka, the local residents visit Amir’s house thrice a day, some of them more than five times a day to console the grieving family. Amir’s mother has confined herself to a dark room. “She does not talk. She has not spoken to anyone. We tried to give her food several times, but she is inconsolable. She does not eat, just keeps calling Amir,” Magray said.
The trauma has not merely impacted the family, but the entire Gool tehsil. Amir was quite known to everyone in the locality. “He was a religious person and one of the very few Hafiz in our area,” Ali, another local resident said. All the youth, who live in Gool knew him. The news of his killing in an encounter has come as a shocker to us all, Ali said.
Massive Outcry
In a complete denial of the Police version on the incident, Abdul Majeed, Mohd. Altaf’s brother said, “Altaf ran a hardware shop on the ground floor, while he had rented the rest of the floors to the other shopkeepers. Unfortunately, at around 5 p.m., the forces condoned off the area and Altaf was told to come out and close the shop,” Majeed said. “Altaf came out of his shop but he was locked at another shop with a few others. One of them was a doctor – Mudassir and another was a ‘Chaprasi’ (an errand boy) from Gool Gulabgarh, who would make tea for them,” Abdul Majeed told The Kashmiriyat.
The family of Dr. Mudasir- one of the slain- who has a daughter, wife and his old age parents as survivors, speaking to The Kashmiriyat, thanked the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha for ordering a probe into the killings. However, they said their sole demand was to get Mudasir’s dead body back.
The families, meanwhile, staged protests that saw police barging into the site of the protest. Several of the family members were detained. The families had told the media that they will continue their sit-in till their sole demand of having the right to perform the last rites of their kin is not met. Former chief ministers joined the protests too. Omar Abdulllah said, “I have nothing to do with investigation. I want their bodies to be handed back to the families.”
ALSO READ: “Ready to bear consequences if police proves Altaf’s involvement with militants,” Slain Altaf’s Brother demands investigation; Seeks his body
After the massive outcry, the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, had ordered a magestirial enquiry into the incident. However, the families continued staging protests to demand the dead bodies of their kin. On Wednesday night, the bodies had to be exhumed and handed over to their families for their last rites.
Soon after the families received the dead bodies, Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami issued a statement saying the third slain Amir’s dead body should also be returned to his family members. Tarigami said that it has been proven beyond any doubt that Magray is a civilian. “His father Abdul Latief Magray is a state bravery award winner and now his son has been killed and falsely labeled as a militant which is highly unfortunate,” he said.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference has called upon the authorities to return the body of Amir Ahmad Magray, a resident of Gool- the third civilian killed in Hyderpora ‘staged gunfight’ without delay.
Thanking the politicians and people of Kashmir, Magray said, “Everyone has supported us. I thought since everyone is supporting, my son’s dead body will be returned, but it has not been returned yet.”
The father, who said that he had been a proud Hindustani, told The Kashmiriyat that justice is being denied to them. He said, “Everyone in the family is distressed. Everyone is wailing.”
Lateef said, “Like Mudasir and Altaf’s family was given the bodies back, Amir’s body should be returned to us, too, so that we can perform the last rites at home.”
Earlier, Lateef told The Kashmiryat, “Hum toh pakke hindustani the lekin hum hi militant ban gaye (We were hardcore Indians and they’ve declared us militants now).”
While talking to The Kashmiryat, Mohammad Lateef said that they were called by concerned SSP and were told to go Srinagar and see Amir’s face. “SSP Ramban called us and asked us to go to Srinagar. I thought that the dead body will be returned to us but he said that you can only see Amir’s face, his dead body will not be returned,” he said.
Lateef is adamant. He does not want to only see the son’s face. He wants to bring him back home and bury him at his native graveyard. “I do not want to go there and come back without his body,” Lateef said.
He further said that they will also try to meet LG J&K if the body is not returned.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat Magray said, “When Amir started working at Srinagar, we were relieved that he has a comfortable job. But that comfort did not last long. The comfort cost him his life. He was declared a ‘militant’ there.”
Peoples Democratic Party-PDP’s chief spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukhari, in a tweet, demanded return of Amir’s body and called the return of two bodies (Body of Mudasir Gul and Mohammad Altaf) a step forward.
The return of 2 dead bodies of those killed in the #Hyderpora incident is a step forward. But what about Aamir Magray of Ramban? His body ought to be returned as well. #ReturnTheBodies
— Syed Suhail Bukhari (@Suhail_Bukhari) November 18, 2021
Ifra Jan – National Conference’s additional spokesperson also demanded the return of Mohammad Amir’s dead body. “Just because his family is poor, lesser privileged, does that mean they don’t deserve to see their son one last time?” she wrote in a tweet.
Return the body of Amir Ahmad Magray.
Just because his family is poor, lesser privileged, does that mean they don't deserve to see their son one last time?
— Ifra Jan (@IfraJan_) November 19, 2021
In Kashmir, the definition of justice has unfortunately been reduced to getting bodies of our own dead back. “How unfortunate is it that when the world is figting for large human rights, we, in Kashmir, are fighting to get back the dead bodies so that we can perform the last rites of our kith and kin,” another mourner said.