Conflict

One year after pellet ridden body was found, Nasir’s family has no expectations of justice

Pellet ridden body of Nasir Shafi

Srinagar: In 2016, this day, the body of an 11-year old boy, Nasir Shafi Qazi was found at the gate number two of the Dachigam National Park.

The body was pellet-ridden with a broken arm. 400 pellets, is what his father, Mohammad Shafi Qazi, had said.

Nasir didn’t return home after leaving for Asr Namaz (evening prayers) that day.

His father last year, in his statement to the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCC) had said that ‘they will fight this injustice in God’s court.’

A year on, the family still stands by what they had said.

On contacting Shafi, he said, “We are doing nothing. Please talk to him.” The clearly aggrieved father passed on the phone to his elder son Mohammad Masroor.

“What is the point of a follow up? There is no point at all. What will happen if we do that? asks Masroor while talking to the Free Press Kashmir.

“We know what the result of the so-called investigation will be. They (government forces) killed so many people last year. Has justice been served to any of them? Then why would they do it in our case!” Masroor adds.

On his first death anniversary, the family has no intentions of protesting.

“We would read the Quran for him. That is enough,” said Masroor.

“In fact we never wanted to file an FIR. They (government) have desecrated him already. We don’t want them to desecrate him more,” the elder brother added.

According to his father Nasir, a student of 7th standard went ‘missing’ after Friday protests that fateful day.

“Someone said that there was shelling on the bridge near Dachigam National Park. They said he might have been injured, so we went to search for him,” Shafi had told JKCC.

“Around 9:30 pm, we found his pellet-ridden body on a water point where animals usually come to drink water. They had left it there so that it looked like an animal had killed him,” Shafi added in his statement.

According to Shafi’s statement, the villagers decided to to keep his body in the Government High School, New Theed. As per the family, the police did try to pass if off as an animal killing.

“The village elders told us that the police (concerned SHO) had told them that he was attacked by a bear. That is why they kept his body there. We wanted the media to arrive so that it gets reported that it’s a killing by the state and not a bear,” Shafi had said.

His father said that Nasir’s body had around 450 pellets and there were torture marks all over his body.

“He had around 450 pellets on his body. He was severely beaten. There were boot marks on his face, genitals and other parts of the body,” he maintained.

During his funeral also, protesters and the government forces indulged in a pitch battle. Tear gas shells and pellets were fired outside the graveyard.

His father went to say in the statement that the government didn’t even allow them to bury him properly. “They imposed a strict curfew for the next five days. Hundreds of people were injured during shelling on mourners,” Shafi had told JKCC.

As his elder son Masroor told the FreePressKashmir that they won’t allow further ‘desecration’ of Nasir. Their father had expressed the same last year in his statement.

“We know what happened to Wamiq Farooq and the boy from Tengpora. We haven’t filed an FIR, neither did we ask for it. If they (Government) conduct any impartial judicial investigation, we don’t have any issues,” Shafi said adding,

“But we won’t allow an autopsy. They have to kill us all before doing that.”

On his first anniversary, the family stays firm on their statements.

“Even if we pursue the case, who will side with us? His killers have all the government support. Who will stand by us,” Masroor told the FreePressKashmir.

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