My Uncle Khursheed Aadil Son of Wali Mohammad Bhat was arrested on September 25 1990 by 50th Battalion of Indian Border Security Force and taken to seer jageer interrogation centre Sopore Kashmir, his whereabouts since then are not known)
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
''UNCLE WE MISS YOU''
23 YEARS ON, PARENTS NO LONGER HOPES FOR A REUNION WITH HIS LIVING SON, WANTS AN EMBRACE WITH HIS MORTAL REMAINS
His was perhaps the first “disappearance” case in the valley. Militancy had just begun and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had taken over from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, when Khurshid Ahmad Adil was picked up from his TV/radio shop [ Light N Sound] at Iqbal Market in Sopore Kashmir. Adil had hardly opened his shop when CRPF personnel, led by two Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), arrived in two vehicles and asked him to accompany them as their officer wanted to see him, people recall. “They asked him to accompany them,” “They said he would be back soon. Adil, handing over the keys to the shopkeeper next door [ Abdl Gafar Provision store keeper, asked him to close his shop, Shopkeepers of the market assembled there. “They couldn’t do anything except identifying the CRPF battalion and note down the registration number of the vehicles,”. They informed Adil’s parents and that marked the beginning of the search that never ended.
His parents and brothers searched the CRPF camp on the outskirts of town at Seer Jageer, as the CRPF personnel who appeared at Adil’s shop that morning were from that camp. Recalling their search, officers at the camp assured them that Adil would be released soon. The disappearance led to a tense situation in the valley, Sopore in particular. Curfew clamped in town made Adil’s relatives lose contact with the CRPF officer for about four days. A few days later, Sopore Traders Federation met the officer and asked for Adil’s release. The officer again assured it would be done. However, as days passed and Adil wasn’t released, his parents met the officer again. This time, he denied Adil having been arrested. They went to every jail, every interrogation centre and every security camp but all in vain. “Everybody denied his arrest. Nobody provided any information about him”. That was in early 1990. The search continued for years and when hope of his return faded, the anxious parents moved the J-K High Court. After nine years of Adil’s disappearance, J-K Police submitted a report in the High Court saying two DSPs of the CRPF were involved in his disappearance. The police, in its report, also said that an FIR (252/90) had been lodged against the two CRPF officers under Section 365 and 302.
We have given up hope of seeing him alive, except his mother. “We have lost all hope. We want his mortal remains. We believe he has been killed and buried in an anonymous grave.” But mother refuses to believe it. As Adil left home for the shop that day 23 years ago, his mother still believes that his son will be back return home one day. “He is alive,” she says
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Some of the sweet memories
