Infant son cries as officer slain in counter-terror ops laid to rest in Kashmir

It was a retired police officer shouldering coffin of his in-service police officer son and a crying infant being made to have one last glimpse of the mortal remains of his father - as three generations were literally devastated by killing of Dy SP Himayun Muzamil Bhat.

34-year-old Bhat, a Kashmir Police Service (KPS) officer of the 2018 batch, was killed in an encounter with militant along with Colonel Manpreet Singh Commanding Officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles and Major Ashish Dhonchak in Garol forest area of Kokernag in South Kashmir’s Anantnag on Wednesday.

Amid tears, his father, Ghulam Hassan Bhat, who retired as inspector general of police (IGP) in 2018, gave a final salute to his slain son. Junior Bhat got married a year and a half ago and became a father recently as his first son was born a month ago.

However, the death devastated the happiness of the family as the joy of celebrating the arrival of a new born came to an end with the death of the infant's father in one of the deadliest encounters in Kashmir, where peace struggles to overcome conflict.

The picture of senior Bhat laying a wreath on the coffin of his only son turned everyone's eyes moist with common people and police officers expressing grief on social media.

“A generational shift in the experience of loss and grief within the J&K Police. Until recently, we were bearing the weight of our colleagues' coffins, who were of our generation. Tragically today, we find ourselves carrying the coffins of our own sons dying in this Pakistan sponsored monster of terrorism,” SSP Imtiyaz Hussain wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

A netizen Jehangir Ali while sharing a video of senior Bhat laying wreath at the coffin of his son wrote on X: “What can be more painful for a father than to shoulder the coffin of his own son?”

Another netizen Roshan Rai while expressing grief wrote: “A child's loss is the biggest tragedy for a father. Even in the moment of the greatest pain of his life, he laid the wreath on his son's mortal remains with composure beyond words, his eyes had tears but heart swelled up with pride.”

Meanwhile, at the Humhama residence of the bereaved Bhat family, the infant cried as the mourners kept pouring in. The baby’s mother is in shock and the cuddle of the father was still missing.