Anantnag: Tin shed, with two rooms only, is the ‘house’ outside which a J&K policeman, who died later, along with his wife, still battling for life, were fired upon in Katoo Wapzan villlage of Bijbehara in Anantnag District on Thursday evening.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh special police officer (SPO) and his wife Farida Akhter were fired upon by suspected militants. Sheikh succumbed to his injuries while Farida is still battling for life. They have no child.
“You might have thought his house will be well built of concrete. This is his house, a tin shed with two rooms,” a neighbor of Mushtaq said.
The makeshift tin shed has two rooms including a kitchen. Doors of the house are broken while blankets hang over the windows.
Mushtaq’s family is in shock and are not able to speak to any one. Only thing that resonates in the tin shed are wails for the ‘lost son’ and his ‘critical wife’.
His mother Janna Begam is yet unable to come to terms what many mourners, and neighbors called the ‘shattering event’.
“They were struggling with life but were content. But today they have no room for mourners. They are shattered,” neighbor commenting while tears rolling down.
Mushtaq lost his father in 2007. “He was the bread earner,” neighbors say.
“The firing was indiscriminate. We heard some cries as we rushed towards the spot. The couple was in pool of blood,” neighbor claimed.
Mushtaq had joined the Jammu and Kashmir police in year 2001 and presently was posted in Sangam Police post.
“His father put all the responsibilities on Mushtaq. He was struggling to make two ends meet,” neighbors recall.
“They even down own any piece of land.”
It was the family conditions that his younger brother would do menial jobs in nearby areas to support family.
Mushtaq’s two sister are married.
“He was very simple, honest and a hardworking man,” said a cousin of Mushtaq. No official has visited the family yet.
