Aisha shows the family picture at her residence in downtown Srinagar. Photo by: Izhar Ali
Srinagar: The Indo-Pak clash in the cricket World Cup semi-finals has raised the cricket fever, like the rest of sub-continent, to a fervent pitch in Kashmir. Mouths wide open in nervousness, twitched eye brows, tension in the sitting rooms, all eyes glued to the Television screens, keen to not miss even a single moment of the clash.
Not at the house of Aisha in Bana Mohalla locality of old city's Fateh Kadal area.
Up four stairs from the main door is a small room on the right, where she lies on the bed, X-rays hanging over her head. There is a silence and a stillness that lingers on her face and around. She is unmoved by the cricket fervor outside. An old TV set covered by a table cloth lies still. Not buzzing. A threefold photo frame is on a table next to her bed. It has family pictures.
For Aisha the India-Pak cricket fervor is an aching reminiscence. Years back she had thanked God for Pakistan’s victory over India. As she folded her prayer rug she came to know the victory had come for a price. It was too big a price. Her son.
Aisha’s son remains by her side captured in the photo. Tears brimming her eyes, it seems is the only sign of life on her old face. “This television was brought by my son. Cricket was not just a game, but obsession for him. He would forget everything else to watch Pakistan team playing,” she says, while pointing to the small black and white television.
“It doesn’t work anymore. But I always want it to remain in my sight,” she says.
A file picture of Imtiyaz who was allegedly killed by Indian troops after India lost to Pakistan in 1994
On April, 22, 1994, Pakistan lifted the Australasia Cup defeating arch rivals India by a score of 39 runs. Pakistan’s victory in Sharjah triggered celebrations in Kashmir as well. Groups of youth and children poured on the streets in Fateh Kadal area of the old city to celebrate the Pak win.
Sweets, candies, firecrackers and pro-freedom and pro-Pakistan slogans marked the jubilations that brought old city to life. However, the celebrations didn’t last long.
Ayesha’s son Imtiyaz Ahmad, in his thirties, was returning euphoric after watching the game at his friends place in the neighborhood.
Exuberant over Pak’s victory, he was celebrating the big moment. Minutes later, troopers came in charging. Anger and disappointment writ largely on their faces. They vent it out and Imtiyaz became their target.
“To revenge the defeat, they caught hold of my son and shot him twice till he died,” tearful Aisha says in feeble voice.
Imtiyaz, an employee in University of Kashmir was the youngest of the eight siblings, including four sisters.
An avid cricket fan, he would die for Pak’s victory and so he did .
Aisha manages to walk a few steps to reach the cupboard. In the cupboard is a steel trunk which has memories of her slain son treasured.
“There are the socks he was wearing on that day,” she says amid sobs.
Leaving the socks on the floor, she takes out a polythene bag containing some important documents and some memorable pictures of her son and other family members.
An ailing Aisha remembers her son who was killed by Indian troops in 1994. Photo by Izhar Ali
“She is Behanji; she is my daughter Maryam, this is her husband and here is my son Imtiyaz. This picture is of my daughter’s wedding,” she says a half-smile escaping her lips.
Suddenly, she breaks down again. Wiping the tears with her scarf she recalls, “It was Friday, Jumma-e-Muhammad (PBUH). After the game was over, we offered prayers and thanked Allah for bestowing Pakistan with victory. I was so happy that day.”
Victory became a loss.
“As I was walking down the stairs, gunshots replaced the firecrackers. Cries, screams and elegies replaced the slogans. I struggled to reach the main door, only to find my son lying in a pool of blood on the lane,” she laments.
Imtiyaz, she said, was cornered by the troopers as blood was profusely oozing from his chest.
Before, she could blink her eyes, she said, a trooper pointed his rifle on her son and shot at him again.
“Yeh saala abhi zinda hain. Goli maro isko,” she quoted a trooper talking to his colleague.
Imtiyaz’s last words were, “Go tell my mother that her son has been martyred.”
After ‘cold-blooded murder’ the troopers, Aisha said, prevented her from picking up the body of her slain son. The troopers had warned her that she would be shot if she made advances.
“I asked them why they killed my son. I told them to shoot me as well. They pointed rifles and told me to go home,” she says in a choked voice.
The incident shattered the family and left Aisha in a state of shock. Sixteen years from now, she is yet to come in terms with the loss. “Like my son, I was crazy about cricket. Now, I don’t watch it anymore,” she says.
“Cricket reminds me of the painful death of my son. It was just a game. What was the fault of my son? Why was he killed?” asks a desperate mother while making failed attempts to hold back tears.
THEY STILL DONT HAVE PEACE(BUT GREENS HAVE VALUE OF NAMAZ )
Pakistan Cricket Team Prayer in Mohali Stadium
| Thackeray(president of shev sina india) objects to Pak players' `namaaz' at Mohali stadium |
| Mumbai, March 30 (PTI) |
After attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for inviting his Pakistani counterpart to the Cricket World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has now objected to the Pakistani team performing 'namaaz' in Mohali stadium. |
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"The Pakistani team could have performed namaaz in their rooms, but by doing so on the greens (of the Mohali stadium), they gave a clarion call for a holy war," Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece `Saamana'.
"Tanks, troops, artillery and missiles have been deployed at Mohali. Is this deployment because there is a match in progress? Such preparedness is not seen during other matches. Why should it be for Pakistanis," the Sena chief, an avid cricket lover, said.
Thackeray had earlier said, "If Pak President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani can be invited for the match in the name of peace, why should injustice be done to Kasab and Guru," referring to the main accused in the Mumbai terror attacks and the Parliament attack.
The Shiv Sena has been opposing Indo-Pak cricket ties, saying Indian soldiers were being killed on the border while fighting Pakistan and, "hence, our country should not maintain ties with the neighbouring nation." In 2005, Sena activists caused minor damage to the pitch at Mohali, then venue of a Test match beween the two countries
| SHEV SINA PRESIDENT BAL THACKERY |
we lost the match but we still gave them a tight slap(as he thinks) when our boys offered salat in the open
Cricket World Cup 2011: largest security operation set for India-Pakistan semi-final amid political protest fearsThe largest security operation yet to be deployed at a cricket match will take place in Mohali on Wednesday when India play Pakistan in a World Cup semi-final that will be attended by the prime ministers of both countries.
A no-fly zone will be in place around the PCA Stadium, which is next to a military airport, while more than 1,000 police have been guarding the luxury hotel in Chandigarh where the teams are staying. Border patrols have been increased following intelligence tip-offs suggesting the game may be targeted. Last week Interpol arrested a man travelling between Pakistan and the Maldives in connection with terrorist plots against the World Cup and around 3,000 police will patrol Wednesday’s match, the first meeting of the two teams in India since the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008. Pakistani supporters will be able to enter India only via the Wagah border crossing, which is close to Mohali, and extensive searches on trains carrying passengers across the border will take place as Indian police monitor the movements of terrorist cells in Pakistan. Fears the match could be used as a vehicle for political protest increased on Monday when there were skirmishes outside the stadium between police and pharmaceutical workers protesting at recent job cuts in the city. |
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