Srinagar, Dec 19 : A monthly sit-in protest at Pratap Park here by families of disappeared persons may appear as a routine exercise. But for many, like 16 year Ruksana, the sit-in is the “only hope” to search for her father’s whereabouts.
“We don’t know how to fight our cases. We don’t know how to seek justice. I think we can find him by coming here every month,” says Ruksana of Pahaldaji Handwara whose father was allegedly picked up by army 12 years ago.
Ruksana accompanied by his brother Iqbal, a class fifth student, make their way to Srinagar every month to seek whereabouts of their father, Fatah Muhmmad—a cloth vendor who they say was disappeared by 6 RR men of Kokers camp.
Her father’s disappearance has not been all what she had to cope up with. Rukhsana says her mother left them after three years of their father’s disappearance. “Our grandfather developed heart ailment after everything got shattered in our life. We will fight until we will not see our father,” she says.
On the occasion, Chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons said, “We don’t need compensation. Give us back our dear ones, we don’t need money. They (armed forces) have killed innocent people for monetary benefits, medals and promotions. The government as well as the armed forces now have to come clear on all disappearances of youth in the past two decades,” said Parveena Ahanger, whose teenager son, Javaid Ahmad, was picked up by forces in early ’90s and is missing since then.
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SA/EN
“We don’t know how to fight our cases. We don’t know how to seek justice. I think we can find him by coming here every month,” says Ruksana of Pahaldaji Handwara whose father was allegedly picked up by army 12 years ago.
Ruksana accompanied by his brother Iqbal, a class fifth student, make their way to Srinagar every month to seek whereabouts of their father, Fatah Muhmmad—a cloth vendor who they say was disappeared by 6 RR men of Kokers camp.
Her father’s disappearance has not been all what she had to cope up with. Rukhsana says her mother left them after three years of their father’s disappearance. “Our grandfather developed heart ailment after everything got shattered in our life. We will fight until we will not see our father,” she says.
On the occasion, Chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons said, “We don’t need compensation. Give us back our dear ones, we don’t need money. They (armed forces) have killed innocent people for monetary benefits, medals and promotions. The government as well as the armed forces now have to come clear on all disappearances of youth in the past two decades,” said Parveena Ahanger, whose teenager son, Javaid Ahmad, was picked up by forces in early ’90s and is missing since then.
Ends
SA/EN
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