STRUCTURES OF VIOLENCE

196 | Structures of Violence
Chairkoot camp and gave them a permission slip to
enter that camp, where Dalgeet Singh was the major.
But Javaid and Tariq were not there either.
Then after some time Ghulam Rasool So [of National
Conference] approached the interviewee and said
that he had connections with some army personnel in
Badami Bagh. He then told Javaid's father that some
boys had been kept in the Badami Bagh Cantonment,
but the army personnel were demanding Rs. 50000 to
release any boy.
The next Sunday, Ghulam Rasool, Ghulam Nabi
Rather and the interviewee went to the Badami Bagh
Cantonment. Some families there were returning after
meeting their disappeared ones.The interviewee
asked Ghulam Rasool to check there. The army had a
list of all those who had disappeared but were now in
Badami Bagh. The ofcer who had it was a Muslim
[but interviewee does not know his name]. They asked
him to check the list for the victims' names. The names
of all three boys who had gone missing from Soura
were on that list – that of Javaid, Tariq [son of Ghulam
Nabi Rather], and Farooq Ahmed Shalbab [son of
Ghulam Ahmed Shalbab].They were given
permission to meet them.
But as soon as they entered the Cantonment, they
were stopped and told that the boys were not there.
They insisted and requested the army personnel to let
them meet the boys but they out rightly denied their
presence in the camp.
Sometime later, Abdul Khaliq, Beta Kachur's father,
visited PAPA 1 to meet his son, where the latter told his
father to inform Javaid's family that he was also in
PAPA 1. Abdul Khaliq did the same, after which, the
family visited the Batmaloo Control Room to seek
permission to enter PAPA 1. They were given the
permission slip, however, as soon as they reached
there, they did not let them enter and denied the
presence of the boys. Beta Kachur was himself
threatened inside PAPA 1 for sharing this information
with outsiders.
Later, the family led a petition in the J&K High Court,
which forwarded it to a Kupwara court for enquiry on 1
April 2004. The latter ordered RS Raina to be present
and remain available for whenever the court might
need him. In the Kupwara court, Raina was given the
choice to either proceed in the cases as a civil matter
or get it tried by an army court. He chose to be tried in
an army court. The family does not know what
happened to Raina thereafter, as they never visited
the army court.
The family of Javaid then led a case with the SHRC,
where they won the case and received ex-gratia relief
of Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 4 lakh instead of an Statutory
Rules and Orders [SRO 43] [compassionate
employment] job appointment.
The father of victim 2, Ghulam Ahmed Shalbab, gave
the below statement to the IPTK.
On 14 June 1995, Farooq told the interviewee that he
th
needed money for submitting fees for his 10 standard
examination form. At around 8 am, he left for the
Jammu Kashmir Board of School Education. He had
left his studies for the past 2-3 years but he had said
that he wanted to resume them.
Farooq was religious and was associated with the
“Allah Wale” group. He kept a long beard and was
engaged in the family business. He left home but did
not return. The family thought that he would be at their
neighbors' shop at Lal Chowk. But he didn't return the
entire day. The next day they searched for him all over
Srinagar.
Later, through Javaid's family, they came to know that
the boys were planning to go across but were arrested
on their way at Doondi Machil by 22 RR. Another boy,
Altaf Haz, was arrested along with Farooq. He was
kept in the SOG camp Zeangil, Kupwara. Altaf
somehow managed to inform his family about his
presence in Zeangil camp, after which they went to
visit him. During that meeting, Altaf told his family
about the other three boys from Soura – Javaid
Ahmed Bhat, Tariq Ahmed Rather and Farooq Ahmed
Shalbab; they had been arrested along with him but
taken elsewhere. Altaf said that there were 27 boys
who been arrested – 15 of them were kept in Zeangil
camp under the custody of SP Manhas and 11 were
taken in an army truck that was covered with tarpaulin.
When Altaf's family informed Javaid's father, he in turn
informed the interviewee and Tariq's father that 22 RR
had arrested them all on 26 June, and that
Commanding Ofcer RS Raina was involved. They
were kept in Machil camp for just one day under the
custody of RS Raina where after 15 boys were shifted
to Zeangil camp and 11 disappeared. Altaf was
among the 15 boys whereas Javaid, Tariq and Farooq
were amongst the 11 who had disappeared. Then, in
August 19995, Farooq's family went to Zeangil camp,
Kupwara. At the camp, they met SP Manhas. He didn't
allow the family to talk and just said that only 15 out of
27 boys had been shifted to his camp.
Suspecting the interviewee's brother-in-law
Mohideen Kindoo, Manhas arrested him. 3-4 days
later, the family went along with Ghulam Rasool So
to the Zeangil camp. Manhas then asked them to
produce bail for the release of Mohideen from his
custody. Accordingly, the family got the bail order from
the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. After producing it
to Manhas, he released Mohideen.
Then the interviewee led an FIR in Soura Police
Station, where the SHO or DSP was Rasheed Billa.
He was known for his cruelty. But he didn't do
anything wrong with them. But the FIR that they had
led has disappeared. Even at the time of its ling, the
family was not given a copy. They did not dare to ask
for it either because of Rashid Billa's notoriety. Later,
they denied that any such FIR had been led, even