On June 30, 19-year-old Zakir Bashir Naik was spraying pesticides in his orchard in Chimmer, a village in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. ...
On June 30, 19-year-old Zakir Bashir Naik was spraying pesticides in his orchard in Chimmer, a village in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. At noon, he went home to shower and eat lunch. Later, he would take a break from his duties to go play a cricket match.
But that was the afternoon security forces arrived at their village. A joint team of the police, army and the Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off Chimmer. Before Naik could bathe or eat, they barged into his house and took him away, along with his brother, Ashiq Ahmed.
The two boys were beaten even as they were being hauled out of the house, alleged their brother, Tariq Ahmed. “Several other young men from the village were detained by the security forces at that time,” said Tariq Ahmed. “We thought they might have taken them to make searches in the village. Zakir was taken to one end of the village; Ashiq was taken to the other end.”
Only Ashiq Ahmad returned alive.
Later that day, the Jammu and Kashmir police announced three alleged militants had been killed during a gunfight with security forces in Chimmer. One of them was Ahmad’s youngest brother, Zakir Bashir Naik.
The Naik family refuses to believe...
