Shopian: Normally a militant makes a call home once finding himself trapped in cordon by government forces. Nawaz Ahmad Wagay, one among the two militants killed in Shopian on night intervening 17 and 18 November, could not do so even though he tried.
Nawaz, a postgraduate in Urdu, wanted to call the family but phone was out of reach, according to a voice recording released on social media this afternoon. He appealed everyone to forgive him.
His mother had appealed him to return home as soon as joined the militant ranks in June this year but he continued on the path he had chosen, said a relative of Nawaz.
“We took lot of pains to finance his studies. He was my hope to take care of me after my husband was killed,” says his mother.
Nawaz’s father Ghulam Qadir Wagay was killed in 1995. Affiliated with a Jamaat-e-Islami, a socio-religious organization , some unknown gunmen entered his house and killed him on the spot then. “He wanted to kiss Nawaz but gunmen did not allow him do so and killed him,” said relative of Nawaz.
Nawaz’s brother told INS he never expected him to join the militant ranks as he “never showed any such inclination .”
“It was on June 1, Nawaz returned from fields and took a bath before going to play as routinely. In the evening, a neighbor entered our house and surprisingly told that Nawaz has joined militant ranks as his photograph has gone viral on social media. We were shocked,” he said.
Nawaz was killed in his cousin’s house along with associate Yawar Wani in an encounter at Rebon village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Nawaz was laid rest in a local graveyard amidst pro-freedom slogans. Thousands of people participated in multiple rounds of his funeral.
