'Article 370 Killed My Son'

'My son was not killed because he was a Hindu.'

On February 17, 2021, terrorists murdered Akash Mehra, 22, when he was seated at the cash counter at his Srinagar restaurant Krishna Vaishno Bhojanalaya.

It was the day when a 24-member European delegation was in the Kashmir Valley on a visit.

Three days later, the Jammu and Kashmir police arrested the terrorists -- Vilayat Aziz Mir from Pulwama; Owais Manzoor Sofi and Suhail Ahmad Mir from Anantnag.

The police also recovered the bike and ammunition used to kill Akash.

The motive, according to the terrorists, was to send a message against the abrogation of Article 370 so that no outsider would settle down in Kashmir.

If you are a vegetarian and a tourist in Srinagar, then you must eat at the Krishna Vaishno Bhojanalaya because it serves delicious vegetarian food.

Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Akash's father Ramesh Kumar Mehra, 65, who continues to run his restaurant.

For me, my life has stopped after my son's death.

I cannot sleep at night as I see his face all the time.

I close my eyes to get sleep, but then my son's face appears and I lose my sleep. I was once a believer in God, but now I have stopped believing in God.

I have not visited a temple after my son's death.

Bhagwan hai kahan? (Where's God?) I don't know. Why did this happen to me? I did no wrong to anybody and yet I am suffering.

On that fateful day militants had warned shopkeepers and restaurant owners to shut their business to protest the abrogation of Article 370.

These militants wanted to send a message to the visiting European delegation that Kashmiris are against the abrogation of Article 370, but then we got message from the authorities that we should not shut our establishment as it will send a wrong message to the foreign dignitaries.

I was perplexed, 'Government ki suney ya militant ki suney? (Who should I listen to? The government or the militants?)

The situation was like dono taraf se musibat (I was caught in a bind).

I decided to go by the government's diktat without realising that my life would forever change for the worse, by keeping my restaurant open that day.

I stepped out of the restaurant in the evening for some work, and my son sat at this very counter from where I am speaking to you.

I had hardly reached some distance from my restaurant when I heard the sound of firing.

Everybody started running helter-skelter. I saw from a distance that the firing was at my restaurant.

When I reached my restaurant I saw my son lying in a pool of blood. We rushed him to the hospital and hoped he would survive.

He battled for his life for 12 days, but then he passed away, leaving me all alone at this age.

When I look back at the failure of the security forces to protect my son's life, I think of a dialogue from the film Singham.

'If the police has the will, then not a single slipper can be stolen from the temple, but then the police needs to have that kind of will' -- the dialogue is very apt in my situation.

If the police had been alert that day my son would have been alive.

Today, you see they have surrounded my restaurant with police. They are here 24 hours, but what is the point? My son is dead and he is never going to come back.

Every day, I get up and cook food only to kill time. I have lost interest in life.

Kiskey liye kamaana, kiskey liye jeena? (For whom do I earn and for whom do I live?).

I only hope that someday some militant will come and shoot me. I just want to die. I cannot commit suicide so I am hoping for this kind of death.

My son was not killed because he was a Hindu. Article 370 killed my son, zindagi barbad kar di (Article 370 ruined my life).

I have been running this restaurant in Srinagar from 1985. I have seen the worst of the times of militancy in the 1990s, but at that time no one harmed me or my family.

Muslims of Kashmir are like my brothers. 90 percent of weddings in Srinagar and other areas order vegetarian food from my restaurant for their wedding.

I supply vegetarian wedding food till Baramulla, which is 50 km away from Srinagar.

I have been to court for hearings and saw those three militants who killed my son, but then I feel they should be set free.

I don't want to go there and see their faces. Every time I see those militants the memory of my son causes me more pain.

Sarkar sirf paal rahi hai unko jail mein (the government is only feeding them in jail).

Till date no politician has come to meet me and ask how I am and what I am going through after my son's death.

I realised our system is like, Aam aadmi ki koi aukaat nahi hai, kaun saath dega uska? (There is no value for the life of a common man and nobody comes to support him).

After my son's death I can only say that Kashmir politics and militancy is very uncertain. Nobody knows who is doing what and what is going to happen next.

All I can say is, meri kismet kharab hai (my fate is bad). You and your family should consider yourself lucky if they go scratch free in Kashmir.