When 21-year-old Kaiser Ameen’s coffin was brought out on Saturday morning, his relatives and the women of the neighbourhood gathered around it and started singing dirges: ‘O braveheart, who will take care of your two young sisters now?’ But the funeral procession didn’t get to accompany Ameen on this final journey.
The police stopped them and used tear gas to disperse the gathering. Later in the afternoon, Kaiser’s body was taken in a vehicle accompanied by close relatives and friends to Eidgah and buried.
On Friday, Ameen was run over by a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) vehicle that had been trying to get away from street protests that were taking place near Jamia Masjid, in Srinagar. Ameen is one of three young men who were run over. ‘He had sustained grievous injuries and passed away around 12:30 am,’ said Ameen’s friend and cousin, Adil Ahmad Bhat. Ameen is survived by his two sisters, 19-year-old Toiba and 17-year-old Iffat.
‘He was just like a typical downtown boy; he loved bikes mobiles and always used to pray at Jamia Masjid,’ said Ahmad of Ameen. After Ameen’s parents died, Ameen and his sisters lived with his uncle. Ahmad remembers Ameen had been having morbid thoughts about death in recent times. ‘For the past few weeks, he had been saying that he would die and it seems his prophecy has turned true,” said Ahmad.
The police has registered a case of rash driving against the CRPF and another case against the protestors. Sanjay Sharma, CRPF spokesman, said, ‘The protesters were trying to lynch people inside the vehicle and the driver was trying to get out of the situation.’ Locals believe the CRPF could have avoided the men who were run over. Most recently, Adil Ahmad was crushed to death at Safakadal on May 5 during the protests that followed the killing of three militants at Chattabal.
