Family seeks authorities’ helpmissing,person,abdul rasheed,budgam
‘He had decided to come home’
BEERU YOUTH MISSING SINCE 2007
IMRAN MUZAFFAR
Srinagar, Jan 14: Missing since 2007, pushing the family in the endless misery and dilemma of negotiating with the thought “either he has been killed or alive in some jail”, a youth from central Kashmir’s Budgam district is yet to return home.
Abdul Rashid Teli, 16, of Peth Kot, Beeru, Budgam, had allegedly crossed over to Lone of Control in November 26, 2000 when he was 16 years old, his family said. “Then he was not in a position to decide what he is supposed to do and finally ended up crossing the LOC. He then realized what he had done and called us, after returning to Kashmir, telling he would resume his school soon,” said his brother, Gulzar Ahmad Teli.
Gulzar said his brother remained in Pakistan for seven years but finally agreed to settle down. “He (Abdul Rashid), after seven years of absconding, called us one day from a contact number of Kashmir in 2007 and told he would come home. He was in contact with us for more than five days. After five days his voice was never to be heard,” he said.
The family of Abdul Rashid said after seven days they received a call from somebody saying their son was with him in Srinagar. The caller, they said, did not reveal his identity. “The caller only told us that he was from Utter Pradesh and would deliver him (Rashid) to us soon. But when we called that number again after few days, he said he is in UP and Rashid was not with him,” Gulzar Ahmad said.
Rashid’s father told Greater Kashmir that his son would have gone with the intention of becoming a militant but he returned becoming a sensible guy negotiating to return home as a “good boy”. “The temptations could have mislead him to the extent he went for, but after coming back to Kashmir he called us and said he would be a good boy now onwards,” said Muhammad Akbar Teli.
He said their dreams were shattered when their son fled home but were reborn after Rashid had decided to come back. “His being missing had torn apart our lives; but his decision of return gave us new strength,” he said.
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Greater Kashmir