In the memory of their teenage son, killed in 2010 allegedly by the police, the family of Wamiq Farooq assembled at his grave in Srinagar on Sunday.
Farooq Ahmad Wani, Wamiq’s father, reached his son’s grave, like every year since his killing, to commemorate the eleventh death anniversary. He was joined by relatives and friends.
On 31 January 2010, Wamiq, a student of seventh standard, was killed after a teargas shell allegedly fired by the police near Gani Memorial Stadium in Srinagar’s old city hit his head. Wamiq’s killing marked the beginning of a deadly summer ahead in which more than 100 civilians were killed by the government forces on streets.
Wani has fought a legal struggle in court for the past eleven years. In 2015, a Jammu and Kashmir court had sent assistant sub-inspector Abdul Khaliq and constable Muhammad Akram, two of the accused that the court indicted of culpable homicide, to Central Jail in Srinagar. However, the duo were later released on bail.
“I’ve been fighting this case for eleven years and still I haven’t gotten justice,” Wani told The Kashmir Walla. “There is no expectation for justice.”
“It is expensive to find justice in Kashmir,” he added, “but I want Allah to grant me a long life so I can keep fighting for Wamiq.”
