MINGORA: For Zohra Bibi, the most painful moment of her life was the time when her son, Umar Sahib, left the house before being mistakenly killed by security forces in 2008.

“After combing hair in front of a mirror, he (son) looked at me and waved goodbye to me before stepping out. His neatly combed hair and cute clean face made me smile. He’s my dearest child. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that was the last time I glimpsed him,” the 70-year-old told Dawn with misty eyes.

The woman said his child went to work and stayed there for three days and three nights due to the curfew and on the fourth day, he returned but dead.

She said as a mother it was the hardest moment of her life to see the son’s body.

“He (son) had left home with a smiling face and sparkling eyes but returned with withered face and closed eyes,” she said before breaking down.

Umar Sahib was shot dead mistakenly by the security forces in Matta Bazaar when he was going to a mosque from his bakery for morning prayers.

For her, Umar Sahib, the fourth eldest among six children was the most obedient.

She said all other sons were drug addicts and didn’t work and that Umar Sahib supported family by working in a bakery.

“We had heaved a sigh of relief after he began work but since his death, we’ve been alone and thus, leading a miserable life. Earlier we’d financial woes only but now we’ve the grief of his death as well,” she said.

Zohra Bibi said Umar Sahib was a nobleman and had never hurt anyone.

She said during insurgency, his deceased son used to advise others not to get close to the troubled areas.

“Bullets are blinds so don’t go out unnecessarily was he would advise everyone,” she said.

Zohra Bibi living in Matta has been shaken by the son’s ‘untimely’ death.

“I go upstairs, sit on the rooftop and cry whenever I miss my son,” she said wiping tears with dupatta.

The woman didn’t talk much about the days of militancy in Swat and insisted that was a game to kill people and ruin families.

Though the three years of insurgency has passed long ago but the times of blood and fire has left thousands of tragic stories in the area.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2016