Kupwara: On 14 May last year, two militants were killed in an encounter at Batpora Nad, a hilly area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, which falls near the Line of Control (LoC).
As the gunfight between forces and militants intensified, a stray bullet hit Shugufta, a 12-year-old girl, who was in kitchen inside her house. She was declared brought dead by hospital.
“As the encounter started nearby, the forces cornered our house and fields. As I entered into the kitchen on my knees, I saw Shugufta lying in a pool of blood,” Shugufta’s father Fareed Ahmad Khan, a farmer, told INS. “That was the biggest shock I ever had in my life.”
According to reports, Shugufta was hit by a stray bullet at the right side of her belly.
Not only Shugufta, but her 7-year-old brother Faisal was also hit by a bullet in the back which pierced through his left arm. He however survived but the scars and the pain; his parents say, “don’t let him live a normal life”.
“The ‘merciless’ day of May 14 left us completely shattered. God took away the gift He had bestowed us with – our only daughter – but the Merciful saved our son,” mother Hussaina said.
“I don’t feel good at all. Life has become miserable since she left. Her memories keep haunting me. I hear the echoes of my daughter all the time.”
The parents told INS that Shugufta always accompanied them whenever they used to work. “We severely miss her calling of Ammi, Abu,” they said.
Shugufta, the desolated parents recall, used to tell them that “soon I will grow up and earn, I will send you both to Hajj. I will take you away from this frontier village place to a city”.
Shugufta is survived by her parents and three younger brothers, and Faisal is the second.
Almost a year has passed but the family is still wailing over the death of their only daughter.
“Shugufta was the only shining star of our life. We miss her in these miserable days and melancholic nights,” the family said.
