Srinagar: Sitting in the corner of a dimly-lit room, Nazir Ahmad Magray struggles to make sense of the sudden demise of his youngest son Imtiyaz Ahmad, the family’s lone breadwinner whose body was fished out from Vishaw river in Kulgam on May 4.Ahmad, 27, a Class 10 dropout who supported his poor parents by working as a daily wage labourer, was whisked away from his home by a joint team of police and army personnel who descended on this sleepy south Kashmir village in the early hours of Saturday (3 May), Magray said.“I offered them tea, but they refused saying they had to check Imtiyaz’s mobile phone and then he would be released. They would have taken him away only over my dead body if I had known what was going to happen,” Magray told The Wire at his dilapidated single-storey house.The distraught father of five daughters and three sons, seven of whom are married and live separately with their own families, refuses to believe the allegations that Ahmad was involved in illegal activities.“He was working as a daily wage labourer in Punjab from where he returned recently. He has never been to a police station as there’s no case against him. If he was a militant, why wasn’t he thrown into jail after his arrest?” Ahmad’s father, flanked by his two other sons, wipes tears from his eyes at their home. (Photo: Special arrangement)Magray added, “Darkness has pervaded our world. He was innocent. I want justice”.The death of Ahmad is the third incident in Kashmir since the Pahalgam carnage which has sparked allegations of foul play, calls for justice and impartial probe by the bereaved families and political parties in the valley. Two days after J&K minister Sakina Itoo met the bereaved family and sought a judicial probe into the incident, J&K Police, who report directly to the Union home ministry, have not even officially reacted to the incident.According to an unofficial statement, Ahmad had during questioning revealed information about two suspected Pakistani militants operating in the higher reaches of Tangmarg village, which is located in the foothills of Pir Panjal mountains, some 90 kilometres from the capital Srinagar city. On the ill-fated May 4 morning, the statement said, Ahmad was guiding security forces to the militants’ hideout in a forested area near the popular Aharbal waterfall in south Kashmir when he allegedly tried to escape by jumping into the river.Drone footage leaked by security agencies purportedly shows the youngster, wearing a fluorescent red jacket, taking a few cautious steps along the riverbank. The footage then shows the youngster jumping into the river, apparently without provocation, and the fast current sweeps him away.However, Ahmad’s family doubts the authenticity of the footage. “He was wearing a black sweater, not a red jacket, when his body was found. They (army) had him in custody, so why did they let him free to jump? Why didn’t anyone try to catch him when he escaped?” Magray asked with tears in his eyes.Despite repeated attempts, senior superintendent of police (Kulgam), Sahil Sarangal, could not be reached for comment. As a protest broke out after Ahmad’s lifeless body was recovered from the river on Sunday, the police didn’t take the slain for burial in unmarked graveyard far from his home, as has been the norm with militants and their associates who are killed in encounters post 2019.Instead, the body was handed to the bereaved family after medico-legal formalities. “In 12 hours, our world turned upside down, but we are grateful that we got his body. If we had not protested, they would have buried him far from us,” said Riyaz Ahmad Magray, Ahmad’s brother.Female mourners negotiating the path to Magraypora locality in Tangmarg village of Kulgam district which is full of puddles. (Photo: Special Arrangement)On Monday afternoon (May 5), hundreds of men and women, young and old alike, streamed into the old house in Tangmarg to express solidarity with the family. On the cemented stairs covered with jute bags which lead to the main door of the house, several dozen shoes and sandals lay scattered, leaving little space for new entrants’ footwear. Unable to find a place inside the packed house, dozens of mourners with sad faces milled about the courtyard. In the room where Ahmad’s father Magray sits, his head resting sadly on the windowsill, the broken glass of a window has been replaced by a transparent plastic sheet, illustrating the family’s poverty.Recalling his last meeting with Ahmad which he said took place on Saturday afternoon at the army camp in Behibagh area of Kulgam, home to a unit of 34 Rashtriya Rifles, Magray said that the soldiers there assured him that his son was going to be released once their officer returned to the camp. “But the officer didn’t show up and we returned home disappointed in the evening. Ahmed spoke with us at 9 pm over the phone that day and said that he was alright. Next day when we reached the police station to seek help, we were told that his body had been recovered,” Magray said. The death sent shockwaves across the village where residents claimed that several youngsters, accused like Ahmad of being overground workers of militants (OGWs), have been detained by security forces following the April 22 carnage in Pahalgam in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were slaughtered by terrorists. According to reports, at least 2,800 alleged OGWs have been taken into custody in Kashmir in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Of these, at least 90 have been detained under the Public Safety Act, which has been termed as “lawless law” by Amnesty International.Along the edge of a puddle-filled path that branches out from the main road in Tangmarg, a group of anguished women spoke in a hushed tone about the death and its aftermath as they walked towards the bereaved family’s house in Magraypora locality.“No one can be trusted,” a middle-aged woman quipped, “We should immediately raise alarm and inform elders if such an incident (like Ahmad’s detention) repeats. Who knows what is going to happen!”“Even if we raise an alarm, who is going to come to our rescue,” another woman asked. In a room packed with female mourners, a young woman cradled the head of Hameeda Bano, Ahmed’s mother, in her left arm while wiping tears from her face with her right hand. A young woman wipes tears with her headscarf while cradling Ahmad’s mother in her left arm.(Photo: Special Arrangement)A second woman sitting on the left urges Bano to show patience and strength, offering her water. “Please help us,” a woman in the room stood up, addressing a couple of journalists with folded hands, “We are a poor village and many youngsters have been detained. The old couple had no support other than their son. Their back has been broken.”Speaking with The Wire, Ruby Jan, Ahmad’s sister, said that the army had arranged a private vehicle to facilitate the family’s meeting with Ahmad on Saturday. “How did he become a militant overnight?” she asked, “If he was in army custody, how did his body surface in the river? I beg you to please raise this issue, for the sake of God. Our brother can’t come back but we want justice for him.”