Srinagar: An 11th standard student from the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, Syed Faizan Bukhari, has returned his award which he had won in a competition organized by the Indian Army in protest against the Pulwama massacre.
Speaking to Free Press Kashmir, Bukhari said that he couldn’t have kept the award which was handed over to him by those whose ‘hands are drenched with blood of my Kashmiri brethren’.
“After receiving the award, it struck me next day that how can I accept it as they have blood of my Kashmiri brethren on their hands. I went back to GDC Poonch and returned the award. The officials tried to convince me not to do so but I had made my mind,” said Bukhari.
The 11th standard student, in a Facebook post said that he is ashamed of ‘his elders who have closed their eyes, ears and mouths on killings of innocents in Kashmir, but he can’t.’
“I, Faizan Mursil was awarded first prize by in GDC, Poonch in a symposium Competition on Thursday by Army. I return my prize as a protest against killing of innocent civilians among whom one was of my age. May Allah help us. Mujhse yeh Haq koi nahi cheehn sakta,” read his Facebook Post.
In a previous post, Bukhari had posted a video, informing that he has won the first prize in speech competition held at Degree College Poonch. he had thanked his teachers for his ‘achievement’.
Seven civilians were killed after armed forces opened fire on civilian protesters near the site of a gunfight in Kharpora Sarnoo village of Pulwama district on Saturday. Three militants and an army man were killed in the gunfight.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah while reacting on the killings said that it is a massacre and there is no other way to describe it.
Earlier, Abdullah while reacting to the civilian killings had said that it was ‘another blood soaked weekend in Kashmir‘.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti while reacting to the civilian killings said that there would be no probe which would bring back the dead. She also asked that ‘is this what was expected from the Governor rule’.
She also said that no country can win a war by killing its own people.
Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Lone while reacting on the civilian killings said that the administration seriously needs to evaluate the cost of such operations. He added that ‘hope the administration gives up its ‘Rambo mindset‘.
Police, in their statement said that they were ‘deeply grieved’ by the loss of civilian lives, however, claimed that the crowd came ‘dangerously close‘ to the gunfight site.
