‘When he left, we thought he had gone to play cricket’

The family of the 14-year-old boy, who was among the three killed in an encounter with the forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday, said they had no idea that he had joined the militant ranks.

“He was a regular Class-10 student and the only brother to four sisters. When he left home last Tuesday, we thought he had gone to play cricket with his friends. When he did not return till late in the evening, we got worried and tried calling on his mobile phone. But it was switched off,” said his grandfather, who is in his 80s.

“We knew nothing about him joining the militant ranks. He was just 14. He was always with his books or playing cricket,” he said.

The boy’s father is a farmer and a vehicle dealer in Shopian district.

The family hadn’t heard from the boy ever since he left home last week. On Saturday night, when he finally rang them up, it was to inform them that he had been trapped by the security forces.

“He asked us to forgive him. I told him to raise his hands and come out to surrender. He said he would think about it and then cut the phone,” said the boy’s grandfather.

He said the authorities gave his grandson and his accomplices a chance to surrender. “The security forces suspended the operation for the night. We all went to the site and made appeals on the public address system but there was no response,” said the grieving 80-year-old.

“In the morning, he had come out with his other colleague who was firing; then they were killed,” he said. “What can be done now? We only want that his dead body be returned to us. He was just a child,” said the grandfather.

Kashmir inspector general of police Vijay Kumar said, “Police and security forces made sincere efforts to get the newly recruited militant to surrender but his accomplices did not let him come forward.” The boy’s death fuelled anger against the militants, for accepting children into their ranks, and the authorities for killing children and calling them terrorists. Author Gowhar Geelani wrote on twitter: “Smallest coffins are the heaviest. Children die like children. How can a child be killed? Or, recruited? No side can claim a moral high in this case”.

“Killing of 12 militants in 4 encounters in 2 days denotes a robust CI (counter insurgency) grid but also the existence of a robust network of indoctrination and recruitment of even 14-yearolds in Kashmir. Spare children from this indoctrination & recruitment. Don’t kill and count them as terrorists,” said senior journalist Ahmad Ali Fayaz.

This is not the first time that a minor ‘militant’ was killed in an encounter in Kashmir.

Three militants, including a juvenile, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Srinagar on December 9, 2018.

KIN SAY THEY HAD NO IDEA ABOUT HIS LINKS WITH MILITANTS; BOY HAD LEFT HOME LAST WEEK