10 days on, no clue about abducted soldier from Shopian

SRINAGAR — Even after 10 days of abduction of Territorial Army soldier in south Kashmir, there are no whereabouts of him from Shopian district.

The Territorial Army soldier, Shakir Manzoor, a resident of Shopian’s Reshipora village was abducted by suspected militants on August 02 and his car was burnt down in Kulgam village while his clothes were found in Landoora area of Shopian on August 05.

Manzoor Ahmad, the father of Shakir, said that since August 02 they have searched around 40 kilometres in radius from the place where he was abducted, however, there were no traces of him since then.

“Every morning my relatives and locals search several kilometres inch by inch in order to find any clue about my son, but to no avail,” Manzoor said.

“I am at present in an orchard where I am in search of my son. We have searched Karewas, orchards, barren land, canals, rivers and other fields but have failed to trace him.”

Shakir’s family members have repeatedly appealed the abductors to let him go and “if he has committed some wrong, let him come back to the family and he would quit his job.”

“I request to all, whosoever has abducted my son that they must at least give us information about his body and if he has been buried just show us the place,” the family members said.

Pertinently, a few days ago, an unverified audio message had surfaced in which the speaker claimed to be a militant, without identifying himself, stating that the abducted soldier was killed and buried at an undisclosed location the way slain militants are buried at undisclosed locations in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, joint team of forces have been conducting search operations at different places in the area in order to trace the abducted soldier.