Ultras kill Kashmir Valley official, separatists mum

Thousands turned up for the funeral of Showkat Ali Khan, an assistant executive engineer with the Jammu and Kashmir roads and buildings department who was killed in a grenade attack by militants on police posted in the Batamaloo market in Srinagar on Monday evening, but not a single separatist was present.

In fact, the separatists, who are always ready to condemn any killing or human rights violation by security forces and vitiate peace in the Valley, did not utter a word.

Showkat’s nine-year-old daughter was trying hard to hold back her tears so that she could console mother Zaheena. Her two younger siblings, unable to understand the tragedy that had befallen the family, were looking helpless, but there was no separatist warmth for the bereaved souls.

“He left home to buy medicines and even called from the drug store. What will happen to us?” cried Zaheena.

“Our life has shattered. He has three small kids. What will happen to them? We pray to god to give us death because we cannot bear this tragedy,” Showkat’s brother Shahid Ali Khan said.