For the security agencies in Kashmir, Adil Rashid was a suspected terrorist. For his family, he was missing in custody. But the truth lied somewhere in between.
A phone call from a doctor in Pune to Jammu and Kashmir Police blew the lid off the mystery behind the disappearance of Adil Rashid 14 years ago.
Adil has finally been traced to a psychiatric hospital in Pune where he regained memory partially after undergoing treatment for six years.
Adil was a class X student when he mysteriously went missing in February 2002 from his ancestral home at Batamaloo in Srinagar. Ever since, the family has been going from pillar to post to track his whereabouts but to no avail.
"It was the fourth day of Eid-ul-Azha when he went missing. I later lodged a missing person report in the police station. I visited different places, including border areas, to seek his whereabouts but to no avail. His mother suffered a bout of depression and for three years she was not in the proper state of mind," Abdul Rashid Khan, father of Adil, told dna.
The family got another rude shock when Rashid was picked by the security forces on the suspicion that his son might had crossed the Line of Control for arms training.
"I was picked up and bundled in the godown (of a camp). They told me that they have arrested people (militants) in connection with the grenade blast at Radio Kashmir and I have to identify whether anyone of them is my son.
But he was not one of them. On another occasion, I told them if it is true that my son has become a militant, I will shoot him in front of you," said Rashid.
The situation took yet another turn later when Rashid was told by some shopkeepers that his son was arrested during a crackdown (cordon and search operations) in Lal Chowk. "We thought he might have been picked by the forces and subjected to enforced disappearance," he said.
It was the reason that on 10th of every month, Rashid was joining scores of parents in a local park for a peaceful sit-in organised by the Association of Parents of Disappeared People (APDP) to force the government to locate their loved ones. APDP figures say around 9,000 people are missing in custody.
"I presumed he might have been missing in custody. We wanted the authorities to tell us the truth. If he is alive, please let me know his whereabouts and if he is dead please show us the place where he is buried," he said.
Luck smiled on the family last week when police broke the news that Adil was recuperating in a Pune hospital. "I was told that they have found my son. They have congratulated me. I hope to see him soon," he said.
Station house officer of Batamaloo police station Aftab Ahmad told dna that Adil has been found in a psychiatric hospital in Pune and they are sending a team to bring him back to Srinagar.
"Adil's parents in their missing person report lodged in 2003, stated that Adil was not mentally fit. We do not know how he reached Maharashtra. Someone had found him and admitted him in a psychiatric hospital in Pune in 2010. Last week, he regained memory and told the doctors his name and residence address," Ahmad said.
Aftab said doctors later contacted them and they exchanged the pictures. "We showed the pictures to his family and they identified him. We are sending a team along with a family member to bring him back. So far, Adil has been able to remember the name of his father and sister. Doctors have said the police should bring along someone from Adil's family so that he could recognise them which will help in his recovery," said Aftab.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Rashid")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}