An off-duty soldier went missing from south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Saturday prompting his mother to appeal for his safe release as it is feared he may have been abducted by militants.
Javid Ahmad Wani, a resident of Achathal village Kulgam, had gone towards neighbouring Chawalgam village for shopping in his Alto car on Saturday evening but did not return home, reports said. Posted in Ladakh, 25-year-old Wani had come home on leave on the eve of Eid last month.
His car was reportedly found in Paranhall village of the district late Saturday evening along with a pair of his slippers while blood stains were found in the vehicle.
In a video message on social media Wani’s mother was seen appealing to “one and all to allow my son to return home”.
“He is innocent and young. If he has done anything wrong, I seek forgiveness,” she said in the video. Reports said security forces have launched a massive hunt to track down the missing soldier.
Last year in March, Sameer Ahmad Malla, a Territorial Army (TA) jawan attached with the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, was abducted and later killed by militants of Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
In August 2020, another off-duty soldier, Shakir Manzoor of 162 Battalion, TA, was abducted from his car and later killed by the militants in the Kulgam district. Similarly, another soldier, Aurangzeb was killed by militants June 2018 in Pulwama while as army man Muhammad Rafiq Yatoo of Warpora, Sopore of JAKLI was killed in April 2019.
In May 2017, Lieutenant Umar Fayaz, who had gone home in Shopian to attend the marriage ceremony of his relative, was first abducted and then killed by the militants. The same year, BSF constable Mohammad Ramzan Parray was dragged out of his house in north Kashmir’s Hajin town and killed.
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