A day ahead of Umar Quyoom’s death anniversary, a young woman walking in a hijab tries to convey her grief for a boy who is buried in the grave beside her. She tells the resting boy, “I’ll fight for justice till we get it.” The boy in the grave was her best friend. Urzeeba (26) says she has had no friends after her brother Umar Quyoom was killed during the civilian protests in 2010.
Summer had just arrived in Kashmir; tourists were flocking in droves to India’s ‘Paradise’. One day — June 11— was all it took to shatter that picture postcard. Angered over the fake encounter in Machil, hundreds of Kashmiris took to the streets in the month of June that year. During one such protest on June 11 in the capital city of Srinagar, a 16-year-old boy, Tufail Ahmed Mattoo was shot dead. Tufail’s killing was followed by 119 more killings, according to independent records.
In the 75 days of protest since that day, when the government forces killed Tufail Mattoo, the Valley had become a ghost town. Srinagar, however, was abuzz with protests. Amid these protests, on Friday (25 August 2010), a young boy aged 16 left his home for the Masjid on the other side of the shattered glass, stones, and bricks on the streets. Umar did not return home till late.
The killing triggered more protests in Soura, Umar’s native place. With the passage of time, the effect of these traumatic events fades in the collective memory and the consciousness of the community. However, for thousands of Kashmiri families like that of Umar, the killings have left an unending trauma that they live with every day.
“A teenager was brutally tortured by police in custody. The family has sought justice for their only son and demanded punishment for the policemen who tortured him in custody,” Advocate Babar Qadri, the counsel for the victim’s family had pleaded before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Srinagar.
Babar Qadri had asked the court to take cognizance of the case under provisions of the law. “The family had approached police on day one for registration of FIR and has also invoked judicial intervention after the police refused to file the case. Police have not adhered to the provisions of law,” he told the court.
After strenuous efforts, an FIR was filed into Umar’s death at Police Station Soura on the directions of the CJM on 9 September 2018 under FIR No. 97 of 2018 under section 302 RPC, the copy of which was accessed by The Kashmiriyat.
“After 8 long years of fighting for justice, we got an FIR registered. However, it’s been 4 years since the FIR was lodged and the police haven’t yet filed a charge sheet in the case,” Urzeeba told The Kashmiriyat over the phone.
Conversing with a dead sibling
Earlier this month someone knocked at the door of Abdul Qayoom at his residence in Soura, Srinagar. The visitor brought along a box of sweets and an invitation card as he was getting engaged. It was Umar’s childhood friend. Soon, the mother’s eyes welled up and after the guest left, she burst into a wail, “Had my son (Umar) been alive, we would have been looking for a girl for him by this time.”
At this moment, nobody could hold back their tears, “But,” Urzeeba says, “This was not a unique moment. A few weeks back, I was scrolling through Instagram. I mistakenly saw one of his friends had got married. It triggered me and others in my family who saw the photos. It is very tough to give up memories of your only brother. We are three sisters and had only one brother. Only those who lose someone in the family know the pain of having one less member at lunch and dinner.”
Umar’s family has not moved on from the tragic incident. The family members have to cross certain spots every now and then, which triggers their emotions. “Every time someone from the family passes through Jehangir Chowk, Lal Chowk, and SKIMS, it breaks our heart,” she says, adding, “For work, Baba has to travel past the graveyard every day where Umar is laid to rest and it brings back all the horrific memories. We all relive the tragedy everyday as we pass these spots,” she told The Kashmiriyat.
“The family rarely attends events or gatherings. At these get-togethers, our family members end up in tears, some or the other thing triggers us,” she said.
She feels, the family is has ben unable to cope with Umar’s death. It is hard to get over such a grief, she says. “You may be surrounded by many people in a function, but a word or some expression triggers you, and you just start crying and cannot stop,” says Urzeeba. Her sisters, she says, had friends. “I had no friends other than Umar, and after his death, I have had no good friends, he was my only friend who would gossip and share things with me and I share mine,” Urzeeba said.
“After his death, I have had a hard time coming in terms with his death and I was advised me to change the route of my everyday commute,” she said. “Eventually, I found peace in speaking to my deceased brother. I often visit him at his grave and speak of my issues. I, literally, converse with him. Passersby must think I’m mad,” she said.
During her exams, Urzeeba sits at her deceased brother’s grave and discusses her anxieties about exams with him. Escaping the gaze of bypassers, she goes inside the graveyard and sits beside his grave, and speaks to him, unconcerned about the fact that he cannot hear her anymore. To Urzeeba, though, Umar responds. They greet each other at every meeting and he hears all her problems and consoles her, trying to find solutions to her issues.
Stories like that of Urzeeba quite common in Kashmir where the relatives of young people are seen going to the graves of their dead kin and also speaking to them.
The family, she says, does not celebrate festivals. “It is always mourning here,” she said. “Bhaya (Umar) used to be very excited for Ramadan. He was a member of Madani group, Dawat e Islami and used to wake up very early and then wake others in the locality for pre-dawn prayers. Whenever Ramadan arrives, mourning restarts for the family. It cannot be explained in words. When we see newborns, and whenever they move or smile, my mother often says, ‘Myeoun Umar sob ous yuthuy’ (My Umar used to do the same),” she told.
“Every Eid festival is dooms day to us,” Urzeeba lamented.
Pursuit of Justice
A Special Inquiry Team led by a Gazetted Officer and supported by at least three other officers was to immediately begin the investigation, the CJM had instructed police to form in August, 2018. “That Senior Superintendent of Police shall oversee the aforementioned investigation as ordered in prior order passed in the current case,” the decision states further.
The government-appointed Justice Koul Commission, which was tasked with investigating the 2010 killings of civilians, had also suggested filing a prosecution against the police officers accountable for Quyoom’s ‘custodial’ death.
In Umar’s case, the court had also instructed the Divisional Commissioner to look into the situation in order to determine why the proceedings under section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code have not yet been finished and to submit a report to the appropriate authority.
Umar and two other people were detained by Soura police station staff and put into custody as part of preventive measures under sections 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code, according to a report made by the Station House Officer who was then in charge of the station at the time. On August 21, 2010, they were subsequently brought before Executive Magistrate 1st Class, North.
The Kashmir Walla reported in 2010 that Bashir Ahmed Balkhi, the executive magistrate in charge at the time, had also urged the Station House Officer to authorize Quyoom’s release but that the officer had declined. He had claimed, “I promised to be a guarantee for his bail, but he didn’t take me at my word.”
“I know there might be several consequences but I am ready to face everything and will fight for my brother till my last breath,” Urzeeba said.
Referring to the delays in the investigation, Urzeeba said, “Police were given 42 days to file a chargesheet in the case, but four years have passed and no charge sheet has been submitted to the court.”