Shopian: Hundreds of women and girls were sitting with Sara Bano in a makeshift tent outside her two-storey house in Turkwangam village, Shopian district, on Thursday, while she wailed, “I swear to all, to his blood: he was not a militant.”
In another corner of the tent, Sara Bano’s daughter wailed, “We searched for you on roads in forests, but didn’t find you.” She was referring to the mountainous road, surrounded by forests, that leads to Sonamarg, where her younger brother, Zubair Ahmad Lone, was buried on Wednesday after being killed in an “encounter” on Srinagar outskirts by a joint team of army, paramilitary, and police.
Two other youths, residents of villages in Pulwama district, were killed alongside Zubair in the controversial encounter at Hoksar area of Srinagar, some 70 kilometers from Turkwangam. The families of those two other youths have also claimed that they were not militants.
Sara Bano, Zubair’s mother, cried out that the authorities should at least let his sisters see the face of their slain brother. “Tuhi kaertov yeman sahban zarpar, daeptohokh yem benni vuch-hans butth (You request the officials to let the sisters of Zubair see his face one last time). Yem benni cxess pagal gamchi (his sisters have gone mad in his loss),” she said to those around her.
Many of the family members were told on Wednesday to visit Sonamarg to have the last glimpse of Zubair, but on the way they were stopped at Gagangeer area of district Ganderbal and only the parents and two brothers of Zubair were allowed to go to the graveyard.
Ghulam Muhammad Lone, father of Zubair, told Kashmir Reader that his son had lunch on Tuesday at 1pm with his family before he left for Srinagar. “He was doing shuttering business along with his cousin brother for many years, after leaving his education. There is no police record against him and he was not a militant but an ordinary civilian,” Lone said.
Ghulam Qadir Lone, a close family friend who also lives in Turkwangam village, said that he saw and had a conversation with Zubair in another mohalla of the village, some 200 meters from his home, on Tuesday afternoon. “I saw him when I went to offer prayers at 2:15 pm on Tuesday,” he said.
Meanwhile, a complete shutdown was observed in Turkwangam and its adjoining areas in protest against Zubair’s killing on Thursday. Mobile Internet services remained suspended for the second consecutive day in both Shopian and Pulwama districts.\

Raashid Hassan