SIALKOT: When Muhammad Latif, 65, was showing some journalists his house at Bajrah Garhi village destroyed by heavy unprovoked firing by Indian Border Security Force on Aug 23, he didn’t know the most tragic part of the story was yet to unfold.

And that did, two days later when the old man, whose other family members had moved to some safer place to avoid heavy Indian mortar shelling, was hit by a shell that ended his ordeal in the most cruel way.

Also read: Three killed in firing by Indian forces

Talking to Dawn while sitting on the debris of his destroyed house two days ago, Latif had related his ordeal that was not different from many others living in the villages along the Sialkot Working Boundary, where such unprovoked Indian aggression had become a routine recently.

Locals say Latif, a poor cobbler, was on his way to the village mosque to say his Fajr prayers when he was hit by Indian fire. Critically injured with his arms and legs almost severed from the torso, he was shifted to Sialkot Combine Military Hospital (CMH) by Rescue 1122 personnel where he succumbed to his injuries on Monday.

He was laid to rest at the graveyard of his native village amid sobs and tears. A large number of people attended the funeral.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2014