Collective loss of a girl’s death

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Chattergam (Tral), Sept 22

Ichpal Singh sat quietly in the corner of a room filled with mourners as they paid glowing tributes to his daughter Ramandeep Kaur, the first conflict-linked casualty in this sleepy, all-Sikh village in the heartland of new militancy in south Kashmir.

Fondly called Pinky, the ever-smiling and chatty Ramandeep, a post-graduate student of business administration who had briefly taken up a BEd course earlier, aspired to do big in life. On Thursday afternoon, she was waiting for a cab at a busy marketplace in Tral, 35 km from Srinagar, when a grenade — targeting the motorcade of senior PDP minister Naeem Akhter — exploded.

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The explosion was followed by intense gunfire, which the police said was aimed skywards to allow the minister’s motorcade to escape. As the melee ended, 24-year-old Ramandeep and an octogenarian, Ghulam Nabi Trag, a retired teacher, lay dead.

On Friday, Muslims made a beeline to Chattergam, the village with 250 Sikh families in Tral sub-district, which had escaped the perils of conflict for almost three decades till Thursday. Farooq Ahmad Trali, a former trade union leader, was the first to stand at the remembrance ceremony. He described Ramandeep as the “daughter of our soil”. “This gathering is a reflection of our unity,” he said.

Another speaker introduced himself as the secretary of Ameer-e-Kabir Trust and described the girl as a “martyr”. Sheikh Kamil, Ichpal Singh’s office colleague, had travelled from Srinagar. “I know how this man worked to save money for his daughters’ studies. He lived in hardship but ensured that his four daughters received the best education,” he said. Ichpal broke into tears, then sobs.

The death of two civilians is being blamed on security forces as mourners and residents accused them of opening fire and shooting pellets, even as the police were quick to deny that pellets were fired.

There was anger against the killings in Tral, an epicentre of the new-age militancy and a stronghold of separatist sentiment which had observed a spontaneous shutdown in solidarity with the victims. The marketplace, where the attack took place, was deserted.

“There were injury marks on the left side of her body,” said Surinder Singh Bali, the head of the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. “We know the type of damage caused by grenades and bullets and she had none of them. These were pellets,” he said.

The youngest of four sisters, Ramandeep had spent much of her childhood at her uncle Pritpal Singh’s home. “If separatists have condemned her death and the government has also condemned it, then who is responsible for the incident? This must be probed,” Pritpal Singh said.

“The two communities have together shouldered every turbulent phase,” Bali said. “We don’t regret living here. It is our land and our home,” he added.