This story is about two budding cricketers of valley. Prince Farooq and Nayeem Qadri, their talent been wizened by Indian state, their desires been squandered and their chests been riddled with bullets .
Farooq Ahmad Bhat (Prince ) was one of the emerging cricketer of Palhallan . He was popular by his nick name Princy .He was a fast medium bowler of young cricket team of town .He had been selected for district level two thrice and done well there . He was also selected for state level team, but could’t go due to his exams. He had won many trophies and made records worth remembering .He had a dream to become become a shining star of valley and to make his talent known at higher levels .
On 2015 , 9th feb when the whole valley was caged on Afzal Guru’s martyr day and protests were held in every part in his favor .The Situation was no different in Palhallan and protests rocked the hamlet . Being the curious self that the youth is now a days, He went out to ask what was going out and how the situation was. On the other side some boys where very near to Indian forces and chanted loudly ” Afzal tere khoon se inqilaab aayega”.The helplessness of Indian forces was appearing through their vile faces. Instead of tear smoke shells or pepper gas they showered bullets on youth. It wasnt the aaerial firing, they open fired on the people.
Everyone was trying to hide. Prince too trying to find a safe place but least did he know what was about to happen, the Indian Forces targeted him and fired directly on him . One bullet passed his mouth, they fired again and 2 bullets went through his arm, blood was oozing out and he fell down motionless. Indian forces vamoosed the spot. People picked him up and rushed him to the hospital but he passed away on the way .They took away a son from his mother , a brother from his sister and a talented bud from Kashmir .His dream of becoming a star has been doomed by Indian state.
Nayeem Qadri another budding cricketer of valley hailing from Hundwara district . Nayeem was a popular player of the town, a known name for everyone. One of his friend said that he was the finest batsman of the team, who scare the hell out of blowers of every team on the pitch. He had been selected for Under 19 level after checking out his awe-inspiring performance.And this fine batsman was also selected for national level coaching. Cricket was his life. But that didn’t stop him from achieving his best in academics, he was meritorious science student. He had to leave on April 16 for Dehradun where he was going to study and practice cricket simultaneously. He wanted to be an international cricketer but unfortunately that did’t happen.
Nayeem was at his home , when the news of molestation of a girl by an army man was spread in the town. The whole town was in vexation, the situation turned bad and people came out to protest, they chanted the anti-indian slogans . The Indian forces had already killed one civilian in this hue and cry. Nayeem heard the gun shots at home and his elder brother Zahoor called him and asked him to bring a DSLR camera so that he could take pictures for a news agency. “He brought the camera and one of his uncles, who was nearby, handed him a bag of vegetables to take home” Zahoor said,”I went to the hospital to check the victims and had no idea that I would find my brother there too”.
Nayeem was shot down when he was returning home from market. His wailing sister Muneera 26, holding a gold-plated ‘Man of the Series’ memento and said this is what he wanted to be ,but they killed him.
There have been hundreds of prince’s and Nayeem’s , who had been faded early before they would have become what they wanted to be, What they were destined for. This is opression , a state’s opression on innocent people .
Mitchell focult said oppressive state has corrosively occupied the power of bodies .They need only those bodies , that will benifit them and all others will be eliminated through acute force .
This is what Indian state has been doing with us, the people of Kashmir.
PARVEEZ RASHEED
Political Science Student at Kashmir University