Neighbours say slain Srinagar boy was not a stone-throwing protester
Traces of dry, flaky bloodstains dot the spot on a lane in Srinagar’s Batmaloo suburb, where youngster Sajad Hussain Sheikh took a bullet to his head, fired by security forces trying to disperse a group of stone-throwing protesters on Saturday.
This is Sunday, a holiday. But the neighbourhood is unusually quiet even for a weekend. Batmaloo’s SD Colony, where the Sheikh family lives, is swarming with paramilitary personnel. Separatists have called a strike in the Valley against what they called the killing of an innocent.
Sajad, his relatives said, was just 15, contrary to reports stating his age as 22 or 23. He was a Class 9 student at a school in Batmaloo and helped his father, Ghulam Hassan Sheikh, run a small fast food stall selling kebabs. Sajad, the youngest of Sheikh’s children, is survived by his parents, two brothers and a sister.
“The family is originally from Chandoosa in Baramulla district of north Kashmir and they have been living on rent in Srinagar for a long time. They are poor and, hence, Sajad, apart from his studies, used to help his father,” a friend said. “He was a budding cricketer and had a match today.”
Photos in Sajad’s Facebook profile capture a stylish teenager with a wavy hairstyle. The image shared widely on social media since Saturday is that of his forehead burst open by a bullet and the face smeared with blood. Photos that till now had “looking cool” comments now have a sterile “RIP” written all over.
Residents of Batmaloo said personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) fired in retaliation when youngsters started throwing stones. “But Sajad was not throwing stones. He was accompanying a friend, who was out to buy essentials, and was caught in the ensuing commotion in the locality,” said a neighbour.
“In fact, he was discussing his new slippers with the guy he was with minutes before he was shot.”