Nadigam, Budgam, Oct 23 : The wedding celebrations of Masrat were not over yet as some of the rituals were still pending. Bullets shattered the dreams and happiness from Dr Shahnawaz Ahmad Dar’s family, who had to keep all the ceremonial events aside to mourn the death of the sole bread earner of the family, who was killed in an attack in Gagangir area of Sonamarg on Sunday evening.
In a fading voice, Mohsin Shahnawaz recalled the last conversation and the meeting with his father when he along with his elder brother Suhail Shahnawaz accompanied Dr Shahnawaz to Srinagar on last Friday.
“Me and my brother accompanied our father to Srinagar when he resumed his professional duties two days after our sister got married. It was only last Tuesday-Wednesday when the marriage ceremony of my sister was held. Dr Sahab had come to home on leave to host the guests,” Mohsin said while speaking with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) Correspondent. “I had brought some sweets for my father, which he had to distribute among the workers at the construction site,” he recalled.
“My father hugged me several times when he left for Gagangir to join his duties from Srinagar,” he said, adding that in the last conversation, he told him to work hard in his life and take care of the family as now the sister has got married.
He added that Dr Shahnawaz has done everything for the marriage ceremony of his daughter and was keen to attend the last ritual to visit the home of the daughter to bring her back as per the tradition after seven days of marriage.
“My father had a dream to go the daughter’s home, but every dream has now been shattered with the bullets piercing the body of my father, ” said Mohsin, who added that he had told the family to ensure ironing of the clothes, which he had to wear. We had made all the arrangements for the pending rituals, but we are now hopeless and can’t do anything.
Dr Shahnawaz has left behind two sons and one daughter. Besides, two of his unmarried brothers were also living with him.
On the day when the attack took place, Dr Shahnawaz made numerous calls to the family back home, asking about the pending rituals and other things. He had talked to his family just half an hour before the attack took place.
“Nobody in the family was initially ready to accept the death of his father. Later, we got a call from the Deputy Superintendent of Police, who informed us that the body was lying in the mortuary room. It was the time when every dream of ours got shattered and the celebrations turned into a grief and mourning at home,” Mohsin recalled, adding that the family is in a grief though, but at the same time they are happy that their father has sacrificed his life for saving the lives of nearly 4000 people, working at the construction site.
About the recent meetings with government dignitaries, he said the chief minister Omar Abdullah has promised a SRO 43 case and also bearing the expenses of the education—(KNO)
