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‘He asked us to forgive him’: Family of 14-yr-old killed in J&K’s gunfight
Srinagar: The family of the 14-year-old, who was among the three Al-Badr members killed during a gunfight with security forces in J&K’s Shopian district on Sunday, said he went missing a week ago and they did not hear from him till the encounter broke out on Saturday
Srinagar: The family of the 14-year-old, who was among the three Al-Badr members killed during a gunfight with security forces in J&K’s Shopian district on Sunday, said he went missing a week ago and they did not hear from him till the encounter broke out on Saturday.
The son of a farmer from Shopian’s Chitragam Kalan village, the boy was a student of Class 10, his family said.
“He left home last week and we thought he was playing cricket with his friends. When he did not return till evening, we called him on his phone but it was switched off,” said the boy’s grandfather.
Station House Officer Khalid Ahmad said the boy’s family filed a missing person’s report on April 6.
The family said they were not aware that the boy joined the terror outfit blamed by authorities for several attacks on security forces and civilians. They said the teenager called them on Saturday, asking for forgiveness.
“He said that he is trapped in an encounter and we should forgive him. I told the child to his raise hands and come out to surrender. He said he would consider it and cut the phone call,” the boy’s 80-year-old grandfather said.
Authorities and the boy’s grandfather said the security forces gave the 14-year-old an opportunity to surrender.
“Police and security forces made sincere efforts to make the newly recruited terrorist surrender. His parents also made appeals but the other terrorists didn’t allow him to surrender,” said Kashmir inspector general of police Vijay Kumar.
The boy’s grandfather said the teenager’s family members were called to the encounter site to urge him to surrender.
“The security forces suspended the operation for the night. We all went to the [encounter] site and made appeals on the public address system but there was no response. “In the morning, he came out with an associate who was firing. Then they were killed,” he said and added “What can be done now? We only want that his dead body is returned to us. He was just a child.”
