As a continuation of the travel logs, today I add an interesting anecdote. This is a story of two brothers of the Lone Mohalla of Mirpura village, Kupwara. Even though they are brothers their lives have taken a 360 degree turn due to some decisions of the past. Faisal and Mustaq are two out of the seven sons of Md Ismail. Mustaq is the youngest of them. This story is narrated by an ailing father while looking at the deserted house of Faisal from the window of Mustaq's house. He says with a faint voice "our house was at one time a big fat happy family".
In the year 1996, when the insurgency was a boiling volcano, youth from the village were like the unstable atoms of sodium in search of those negatively charged atoms of chlorine in the form of Hizbul Mujahideen and LeT and their bonding in those days were of a salt that was rubbed on our wounds by the instability of Kashmir!! he exclaims. Two of the eldest brothers had been killed by the Terrorist outfits in a process to subdue and threaten the locals. Ismail had sent three of his kids after this incident to distant relatives in Prayagraj.
Subsequently Ismail was blessed with two more sons, Faisal and Mustaq. Faisal was a short tempered kid who always tried to break the protective outlook of his mother and father. He used to revolt on every restriction imposed on him by his beloved parents. He never understood the underlying fear of his parents. He was always trying to uncover the past. Questions like why doesn't his elder brother stay with them haunted him. On the other hand Mustaq was a calm, adorable and intelligent child. He had keen interest in education and was always family oriented.
As memories start flooding the eyes of Ismail, his eyes are trying to hold back his tears. He says it was that fateful year of 2000. It was not uncommon for Faisal to leave home and disappear for a few days when he had a quarrel with his parents. One day Faisal had a quarrel with his mother on something and then he just left but never returned. There was no contact from Faisal for next two years. In the same duration Mustaq got married. He had two children. Being himself a teacher, he was well aware of the importance of education and hence on the same lines he had always made an endeavor to teach good virtues and values to his kids. As the memories moved as reels in front of the eyes of Ismail, he suddenly changed his posture, as if he was afraid to remember what was unfolding in front of his eyes... He became upset as he remembered the dreadful year of 2003.
Ismail continued with the words Ya Allah there was a lot of instability and hostility growing in air. One could feel the uneasiness. In the month of April and May 2003, a crackdown was undertaken by the security forces. The operation was named Operation Sarp Vinash launched by the Indian Army. The largest network of terrorist hideouts covering 100 square kilometers in Pir Panjal was uncovered and more than 60 terrorists were killed. Faisal was one of the few terrorists who managed to flee. He had no option but to return home. As the security forces started to close in on the whereabouts of those who escaped, an operation was launched to apprehend Faisal. Cordon and search was conducted and Faisal was asked to surrender. He did not listen and in the process Faisal was killed and the house was destroyed.
By now even I could see the pain in the eyes of Ismail, as he kept staring at the remnants of their old ancestral house. I asked Ismail why not rebuild it? To that he simply replied, "Its cursed... I have had the misfortune of carrying three coffins of my kids from that house. But today here I am content. My youngest son has supported us through these testing times. He has raised a son who has a thriving practice in Srinagar General Hospital." The son is saving lives, spreading hope and trying to wash the sins of his uncle. With pride and enthusiasm Ismail's face lightens when he mentions about his granddaughter, he says with a swell in his chest that she has cleared civil services and now she is currently serving as a undersecretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi. The granddaughter is doing her bit to serve humanity as against the terrorism who were the reason which bought ill fate to the Lone family.
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