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Kashmir bomber radicalised after beating by troops, parents say
SRINAGAR: A suicide bomber who killed 44 paramilitary personnel in India-held Kashmir joined a militant group after having been beaten by troops three years ago, his parents said on Friday.
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s car bomb attack on a security convoy, the worst assault in the disputed Himalayan region. It comes months before a key Indian general election.
Adil Ahmad Dar, 20, from the village of Lethipora in occupied Kashmir, rammed a car full of explosives into the convoy.
“We are in pain in the same way the families of the soldiers are,” said farmer Ghulam Hassan Dar, adding that his son had been radicalised after police stopped him and his friends on the way home from school in 2016.
“They were stopped by the troops and beaten up and harassed,” he said, adding that the students were accused of stone-pelting.
“Since then, he wanted to join the fighters.”
A video released by JeM after the attack showed his son, dressed in military fatigues and carrying an automatic rifle, detailing his plan to carry out the bombing.
His mother, Fahmeeda, corroborated her husband’s account.
“He was beaten by Indian troops a few years back when he was returning from school,” she said. “This led to anger in him against Indian troops.”
Both parents said they were unaware of their son’s plan to attack the convoy.
Adil Dar did not return home from his work as a labourer on March 19 last year, Fahmeeda added. “We searched for him for three months,” she said.
“Finally we gave up efforts to bring him back home.”
The two accounts could not be independently verified.
A spokesman for India’s home ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ghulam Hassan Dar said he blamed politicians for his son’s death.
“They should have resolved the issue through dialogue,” he said, referring to the conflict over India-held Kashmir.
“It is they who are responsible for driving these youth into militancy. The sons of the common man die here, whether they are Indian troops or our sons.”
Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2019
Comments (28) Closed
Indian army = Hitler Nazis!
Indian bloodshed of innocent Kashmiris will haunt them. What goes around comes around.
The Indian government needs to accept responsibility for radicalizing the Kashmiri youth resulting from its heavy handed policy and for listening to their call for freedom from the forced Indian occupation of their homelands
His mother, Fahmeeda, corroborated her husband’s account.
“He was beaten by Indian troops a few years back when he was returning from school,” she said. “This led to anger in him against Indian troops.”
The answer is in front of the world.
Parents are equally responsible.
Real sentiments from parents...
Just wait and watch Mr. Father. Where was you from last three years ??
Indian army is making these people desperate and psychology traumatised.
Tragedy upon tragedy. When will all this hatred and bloodshed end ?
@Art KP , read some History
The day is not far when India will be named and shamed for its barbaric occupation of Kashmir.
The police doesn't just randomly stop kids going to school and beat them up. I would think the boy and or his friends must have done something to catch the police's attention and invite that beating assuming the story is true in the first place.Why did the parents not bring up what their kid did to initiate the confrontation in the first place?
Hate policy of Indian government is the cause.
This man chose not to tell the authorities that his son had taken to terrorism. He should be tried in a court of law as an abettor.
nice story for local consumption
@Steve lomas, you should as well. Wait you only read BJP prescribed history.
Their son went missing ,they knew the reason,they understood what would he be doing ,but kept silent. Their call record must be checked .If they have spoken to him from the time he went missing and have not report to police .They too should be charged with murder ..
He is lying no record
India and BJP=Nazi party of Germany =Netanyahu’s Israel.
A complete nonsense story. A terrorist is a terrorist. No story will justify terrorism.
@Shaji, if you killed someone on your own accord, is it your parents fault. He was an adult and made a choice.
@Bobby Khan, people are not born to commit such acts. They are either influenced by their life experience, can be misled or are motivated by money.
Why he was beaten? At least he was not abducted to be vanished in the air and then ' not being accounted for '.
How was he was able to get his hand on RDX ? No one ask this question.
My heart goes out to the families of the deceased soldiers just as it does to all the families of civilians killed in Kashmir by the Indian Army.
Violence begets violence & there will never be an end to this unnecessary loss of life but what hurts most is the political agenda in India & the fact that this all points to a false flag operation for the BJP's election gains - why was the request from the soldiers to be transported by air for security reasons ignored. Hmmmm… something fishy going on....
@ajay, so why six hundred thousand Indian troops in Kashmir?
@Shaji, very irresponsible and immature statement.
As a parent did you advise your son not to go in extreme path? Did you report him to authorities?