Kashmir: Stray bullet kills 12-yr-old while ‘she was sleeping on her mother’s arm

Srinagar: In a horrific incident in a remote village Kupwara, J&K police and army launched an operation against three militants. A family of Makhini Begum was sleeping just the meters away from the targets hiding. When Makhini heard the guns sound she woke up and realized that the sound is from nearby.

According to Indian Express, Before she could think anything she found that the mattress turned sticky and red on which they were sleeping. she realized that was blood of her 12-year-old daughter Kaneeza and six-year-old son Faisal. They both were hit by the stray bullets while they fall asleep.

She lost her Daughter, Kaneeza but the son, Faisal survived. She was thinking about her only daughter Kaneeza while sitting beside her son in the hospital.

Makhini said, “It was very early in the morning. We were sleeping with our children in the same room,” says the 32-year-old. “Suddenly, I was woken up by gun shots. I whispered to my husband that firing was going on near our house. We decided to stay still to escape the bullets. But that didn’t happen.”

“I loved Kaneeza so much. I have four sons, she was my only daughter. She was sleeping on my right arm. Suddenly, she breathed hard. I put my hand on her and felt something sticky. I looked at my hand, it was red with blood. I kicked the blanket aside, saw blood all around. I saw blood dripping from her body and that of Faisal.”

Makhini says her husband told her that Kaneeza had died but Faisal could be saved. “The firing was going on and I went out crying. I could feel the bullets moving in all directions. As I opened the door of my house, I saw three policemen. I pleaded with them to save my family. It was around 7 in the morning”.

Makhini in a situation took help of policemen and took her son Faisal who was hit on his shoulder. Her husband remained inside with the body of Kaneeza as he is aged and couldn’t move, “I didn’t want to leave her body inside. But I was also thinking of saving Faisal,” says Makhini.

Makhini says her house in Batpora-Kunnad village was next to the one in which the militants were hiding, separated by a small stream. “When they launched the operation against the militants, they didn’t try to first rescue us. I don’t know whose bullet hit my children,” she says.

Kupwara Shamsheer Hussain Khan, SP said, “This family’s house is on the other side of the stream. They were afraid to move out as firing was going on,” and they tried their best to move the family out.

Makhini’s son was admitted in the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital in Srinagar and she was with her son and couldn’t attend her daughter’s burial to see her one last time and she says “There can be no bigger pain than this for a mother.”