Kashmir mourns its own Aylan

SRINAGAR: The death of a 3-year-old Kashmiri boy in Friday’s shooting incident in volatile town of Sopore has caused outrage across the Valley and beyond.

 

The victim, Burhan Bashir, was in the lap of his father Bashir Ahmed Butt when two motorcycle-borne gunmen hurled a hand grenade towards them outside their house in Sagipora area on the peripheries of the town, 50-km northwest of capital Srinagar.

 

As it didn’t explode and Butt began running for life, the assailants opened indiscriminate fire at the father son duo, critically injuring both of them, witnesses had said.

 

While 38-year-old Butt died on way to hospital, his son was admitted to Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

 

Doctors said a bullet had pierced through his abdomen and they did a surgery on him overnight. But little Burhan died at 7 am on Saturday, leaving his mother inconsolable.

 

As the word spread, many people took to the social networking sites to protest the gruesome murder of the minor boy. Some of them sought to equate the incident with the tragic death of Aylan Kurdi, a 3-year-old boy from Syria who drowned as his family tried to flee to Europe recently. 

 

“How sad 3-year-old kid shot at last evening along with his father in Sopore succumbs to injuries. What was his fault? Will someone show outrage?(sic)” asked Shuja’at Bukhari, editor of Rising Kashmir newspaper in a post on Facebook. 

 

Another well-known journalist Shuja-ul-Haq wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter, “#Aylan was swept away by mean waters of the sea. In Kashmir 3-year-old Burhan paid for our collective sins which have kept this conflict alive.” 

 

Dr. Showkat-ul-Islam, a Kashmiri living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, tweeted, “What is difference between #AylanKurdi (Syrian) kid & #BurhanKashmiri also 3 years who got killed last night #hypocrisy of world. (sic)” 

 

Another Kashmiri Saadur Hussain wrote on FB, “The Sopore kid was all but 3 years old! For the sake of Allah, what was his fault?”

 

A report from Sopore said that hundreds of people attended Burhan’s funeral in the afternoon. His mortal remains were carried from his home to a local cemetery in a procession and, as he was laid to rest next to his father, many mourners started crying. Earlier moving scenes could be witnessed at his home when Burhan’s corpse arrived in an ambulance from Srinagar.

 

Chief Minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, deeply mourned Burhan’s killing by ‘unidentified gunmen’ and condemning the dastardly act.