(This is a two part news article and Part-II will appear tomorrow)
SRINAGAR: He often advised his 13-year-old twins to offer their pre-dawn prayers (Fajar). But the circumstances in which they obeyed him were beyond his imagination. What followed is still inconceivable for Rameez Khan as he lies on a hospital bed and attempts to lift his left arm but fails.
On midnight of May 7, India said it attacked militant bases on parts of Kashmir administered by Pakistan and some parts of Pakistan as well. That night at 1.51 AM, the Indian Army wrote on its official X-handle: “#PahalgamTerrorAttack. Justice is Served. Jai Hind!”
By the time the X-post came, Pakistan had already opened its guns along the eastern boundary in the Poonch-Rajouri sector and along the northern LoC in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
And by the morning of May 7, Poonch was already mourning its cherished twins, an ambitious father, a merciful teacher, a skilled sketcher, a protective brother, and many more.
As the dawn of May 7 approached, Rameez’s kids Zoya and Ayan, both 13, performed ablution and said to their father, “Dad, we are praying Fajar today. We never know what will happen next,” Rameez’s cousin, Dr Sarfaraz told the 'Kashmir Times'.
They Fled Their Homes for Safety but…
Frightened by the overnight shelling and caught off-guard in the morning, panic-stricken people of Poonch town started to flee their homes.
"Rameez’s family of four, including his wife and two twins rushed out of their rented accommodation near Christ School Poonch. The mother Arusa Khan was ahead with daughter Zoya, behind them ran 13-year-old Ayan and behind him Rameez himself," said Dr Sarfaraz, a lecturer at Government College Poonch.
As they ran towards the road, a shell exploded nearby. In a matter of seconds, another shell hit a home close by and a gas cylinder inside exploded. There was smoke all around.
Shrapnels from the shells injured Zoya and Ayan. The daughter bled heavily, while the scared son ran into another neighbour’s home and passed away in their lawn.
Rameez lay unconscious on the ground.
Amid the chaos, Arusa saw her daughter lying in a pool of blood. “She is lifeless,” Arusa told her cousin, who arrived at the scene to shift them to hospital.
"She ran back and brought Ayan out. Both children were taken to hospital. None of them survived," said Dr Sarfaraz.
"Shrapnels had pierced Ayan’s belly; he died of a heart attack," Dr Sarfaraz said.
As she was standing alongside the lifeless bodies of her only two kids at the hospital, Arusa was informed about her unconscious husband lying on the street.
She went back, took her husband to the hospital with the help of locals.
“Rameez had lost a lot of blood, doctors first infused blood in him, but he still lay unconscious,” said Dr Sarfaraz.
"The children were taken for their last rites. With their father unaware of events, Arusa took upon herself to accompany them to their resting place in their native village of Kulani, some 12-kilometres away from the Poonch town," Dr Sarfaraz told Kashmir Times.
“Some moments are impossible to forget,” he remarked.
The two siblings had in their young age learned to prepare meals for themselves, as both their parents worked at their respective jobs.
"In the pursuit of giving their children a quality education, Rameez, a laboratory assistant at a school in Poonch, and his wife Arusa, who teaches at a seasonal school for nomadic children, had shifted from their village to Poonch town about four-months before," informed Dr Sarfaraz.
"However, the migration has only left incurable scars on parents. It will take them years to overcome, if only they are able to do so," Dr Sarfaraz said.
He Warned Everyone To Stay Indoors but Fell…
Around the same time in the morning, about one kilometre away near the District Hospital Poonch, Amarjit Singh, a 50-year-old retired Territorial Army man, stood on his terrace and signalled to his family and neighbours to remain inside and stay safe.
As he went inside and down to the first floor of his home, a shell exploded on the roof of a nearby house. Its shrapnel flew and pierced Singh’s lungs.
"Despite being injured, he ordered his family to remain inside and then walked to the hospital on his own," said Singh’s cousin Attinderpal Singh. District Hospital Poonch is some 100-metres away from their home.
But the injury to lungs resulted in massive loss of blood. Amarjit Singh’s blood pressure dropped drastically, and he died around 9.00 AM on May 7, the same day that he was injured.
“He was like a father to us, he cared for everybody,” said Attinderpal Singh, a 25-year-old Master’s student.
“Everything was horrifying. When this happened, people sitting in their air-conditioned offices and homes far away celebrated, while we didn’t sleep for three nights,” Singh said.
“It was a black day for us.”
Amarjit Singh’s two kids, 13-year-old Amanpreet Singh and the nine-year-old Gurcharn Kaur caress the picture of their father as relatives flock from Jammu to offer condolences. Singh’s 85-year-old father and elderly mother sit numb on the cot.
The bearded face, charming smile tells of his merciful nature, his eyes speak of bravery. The shelling has stopped, but Singh’s courage still echoes in the mountains of Pir Panjal.
She Watched Her Father Die, Didn’t Realise She Was Injured
"Some ten minutes away from Singh’s home, in Mohalla Sukha Khatta Mohammed Akram rushed to close the main gate of his home. A shell exploded outside the door. Its shrapnel penetrated the heavy-metal gate and hit Akram, who fell unconscious on the spot," said his wife, Bibi Farida.
Following the explosion, Farida rushed from inside, only to see her husband, a lone breadwinner for the family, lying near the door.
“I pulled him inside, and realised he was no more,” said Farida.
Terrified by her father’s situation, Akram’s daughter, Afreen didn’t realise she was injured as well.
It was sometime later that when she saw blood dripping from her forehead and shoulder, she noticed she was also hit.
From her cheek to earlobe, the left side of her face is reddish black due to injuries, her head is bandaged, there is a small cut on her lips as well, with teary eyes she remembers her father’s dreams:
For the past 20 days when Afreen was engaged, there had been a special atmosphere in their home. The family, especially her father, Akram, was enthusiastic about her marriage. "He often told them about his desired dreams for the wedding," said Afreen.
An unfulfilled dream, a father lost too soon.
A Bride-To-Be Loses a Mother
Over 270-kilometres away from Poonch, along the northern end in Uri, 42-year-old Nargis Bano was fleeing her village of Razarwani in a vehicle with eight other relatives when a shell exploded along the highway near Mohura. Its shrapnel tore the roof of the SUV and penetrated Nargis’ head.
She was declared dead on arrival in a Baramulla hospital.
Her children, including 28-year-old Rumeena Bashir, a bride-to-be, were waiting for her mother at their aunt’s place in Baramulla town.
The children were shifted two days prior amid the war hysteria before the conflict.
The moment she heard about her mother’s death, Rumeena Bashir froze like a lump of earth.
Her dream to get her hands dyed with henna by her mother was shattered. Surrounded by young siblings, she now has a world on her shoulders.
Nargis’ death devastated the family, which was preparing for Rumeena’s wedding after Eid-al-Adha in June this year.
“I wish the shell had hit me instead,” cried Rumeena, saying inside her she’s like a ‘charred log of wood’.
Left with a Memory of His Son’s Smashed Brain and His Sketchbook
Back in Poonch’s Mohalla Dungas, the heavy shelling, of which several exploded near their house, compelled the Bhargav family to flee from their home.
“Vihaan was shivering, I couldn’t bear it, and decided to flee,” said his father Sanjeev Kumar, a teacher by profession.
"As the family fled the armed conflict and reached Bhainch along the Jammu-Poonch Highway, a shell hit nearby, its shrapnels pierced the vehicle, killing the family’s only child Vihan Bhargav - A class 8th student and a skilled sketcher," Kumar said.
"The explosion rendered the family clueless and as he regained his consciousness, Kumar saw the bloodied face of his son, he lifted his chin and saw the smashed brain of his child," recalled Kumar.
“His blood and small pieces of his brain were on my face,” said Kumar as he held his son’s artistic drawings and found it impossible to explain further.
One Moment He Was There, Next He Was Gone
The families, who lost their loved ones are yet to come out of the shock, like Japneet Kaur, daughter of Amrik Singh, a ragi (a sikh musician) at a local gurdwara in Mohalla Syndicate of Poonch, who died as he safeguarded his family.
Amid the shelling, the family ran out of the home to their shop nearby and took shelter in its basement.
Amrik Singh, after securing his family, climbed through the entrance in the roof of the basement to get some things from the shop. In a matter of seconds, a shell exploded outside, its shrapnel punctured the shutter of the shop and hit Singh. He died on the spot.
“One moment we were together, and the next moment, our father was gone. The terrifying moment will haunt us forever,” said Japneet Kaur, adding, it will take them years to overcome this tragedy.
“During the ‘Operation Sindoor’ many women here lost their sindoor (a red mark worn by Hindu and Sikh married women on their forehead)” said Harjeet Singh, brother of deceased Amrik Singh. “But no one talks about that.”
Death, Destruction and Demonisation
"About one and a half kilometres away from Amrik’s home, Qari Mohammad Iqbal was done with the morning lessons at Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom, a seminary where he taught for over two decades after he earned his diploma in Islamic Sciences, Arabic language, and of a Reciter otherwise known as Aalmiyat from Jamia Akkalkuwa, Maharashtra in 2004," said his nephew Imtiaz.
Iqbal relaxed inside his room at the seminary. One of his pupils served him tea. Moments after the student left Iqbal’s room, a shell exploded on an adjacent terrace.
The shrapnel flew through the door and hit Iqbal. He was carried to the hospital by a former MLC Pradeep Sharma. But he succumbed to his injuries the same day at the hospital.
“There was chaos everywhere, especially at the hospital. For around 15-minutes, no doctor came to see Iqbal,” said Imtiaz, Iqbal’s relative from Baila, Poonch.
“Doctors were overwhelmed by the number of patients being shifted to the hospital. It is not their fault,” Imtiaz said, adding, “It was the government’s responsibility to remain prepared.”
As Iqbal’s family, his two wives and eight children mourned the death of their lone bread winner and a generous family man. They were shocked by the news being carried by various TV news channels.
"The man, against whom till date not a single FIR was filed, nor did he wronged anyone, was declared a militant commander. The news, accompanied by Iqbal’s picture and his name, doubled the mourning family’s affliction," Imtiaz said.
It was when the local journalists published the facts and debunked the claims, the TV channels took the news down.
Dozens of people died on both sides of the border, properties worth millions were damaged, officials, NGO workers, and media reported.
As per official figures, at least 16 civilians, of them 15 from Poonch district and one from Baramulla’s Uri were killed in the four-day armed conflict. India said it lost five soldiers in the fighting.
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