Bhat Yasir
Tragedy struck the twin villages of Bernate and Nowshera in Boniyar tehsil, as two local men were among the victims of a militant attack that claimed the lives of five people, including three army personnel.
The attack took place on Thursday evening in the Botapathri area of Gulmarg, where militants targeted an army vehicle, killing two porters working with the Indian Army alongside the soldiers. Three army men were also killed in the attack.
A senior police said that militants opened fire on a Rashtriya Rifles vehicle near Botapathri, Gulmarg, on Thursday evening.
The vehicle was part of a convoy moving through the Nagin area, close to the Line of Control, about six kilometers from Gulmarg:s Botapathri.
The attack in Gulmarg is the fourth such incident since Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu Kashmir.
The incident in Gulmarg came just hours after a separate attack in south Kashmir’s Awantipora, where a migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh, Shubham Kumar, was shot and injured by suspected militants in the Batgund village of Tral, Pulwama district.
In Thursday attack, the porters who lost their lives were identified as Zahoor Ahmad Mir, son of Abdul Ahad Mir from Bernate, and Mushtaq Ahmed Choudhary from Nowshera, both from the Boniyar region of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Both men had been working with the Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army for several months, earning modest wages to support their families.
For the families left behind, the loss is unimaginable. Mushtaq Ahmed Choudhary, a young man with dreams for a better future, leaves behind his wife, a three-year-old child, and an ailing father suffering from cancer.
His father’s only hope for treatment and survival was his son, who had taken up the role of family breadwinner just a few months ago. “He was everything to us. My husband was planning for a future we could barely see,” said his grieving wife.
Zahoor Ahmad Mir, another victim of the attack, also leaves behind a family that depended entirely on him. The eldest in a family of seven, Zahoor supported his parents, wife, and two young children. His father recalled their last conversation just hours before the attack.
“He called me yesterday and we spoke for almost an hour and a half. He asked about our health, wanted to know if we needed anything – medicines or anything for the house. He was planning to build his own home with the money he earned from working with the Army. Now, all our hopes are gone. He has left behind two children, his wife, and us, his aging parents,” Zahoor’s father said, his voice filled with pain and loss.
As the news spread, the villages of Bernate and Nowshera were engulfed in grief. Hundreds of neighbors, friends, and relatives rushed to the homes of Zahoor and Mushtaq, offering condolences and trying to grasp the enormity of the loss.
For these families, life will never be the same again.