On mother’s wish, 12-year-old Kashmiri boy laid to rest near house

SRINAGAR - In occupied Kashmir, the mother of 12-year-old Junaid who fell victim to pellet injuries on Saturday wished that her only son be buried in a graveyard next to their house in Saidapora area of Srinagar, so that she can see it every day.

As the empty grave at the graveyard in Eidgah waited for the body of young Junaid, thousands of people flooded the house early on Sunday morning.

His mother wailed, “Don’t take my son away. Please bury him in the graveyard next to our house.”

He was the only son of mine; he was my eyesight, my world. Forces snatched my everything. I need to see his grave everyday.” According to the family, Junaid was the lone son of his parents. He has four sisters. His father Ghulam Muhammad Akhoon deals in Pashmina business. His sisters were in shock, crying, “Asie kem neou boi (who snatched our brother?).”

Though Junaid’s funeral prayers were offered at martyrs’ graveyard Eidgah, where a grave was even readied for the little boy, it was later decided not to bury him there.

Witnesses said that the boy’s mother reached Eidgah in a vehicle and requested the locals and youth there, too, not to bury her son there.

Earlier, witnesses said that the slain boy’s father had made the same request, Kashmir Media Service reported on Sunday.

The elderly people and the youth later decided to accept his mother’s wish. He was laid to rest at a graveyard barely a few hundred meters away from his home.

Pertinently, at martyrs’ graveyard Eidgah, at least two graves remain always ready and are later adjusted as per the body size of martyrs. The family members of Junaid, a class 7th student, asserted that pellets were showered on him when he was just outside his home.Online