8216;I am hopeful he will return one day8217;

ON every celebration when the Khan's take to the dining table, there is a spare plate of food. But for last 12 years, nobody has used that food. The 70-year-old mother of the family, Sarwa Begum, serves food for his son, who has gone missing in 1995.

ON every celebration when the Khan8217;s take to the dining table, there is a spare plate of food. But for last 12 years, nobody has used that food. The 70-year-old mother of the family, Sarwa Begum, serves food for his son, who has gone missing in 1995.

8220;I am hopeful he will return one day,8221; says Sarwa with a sparkle in her eyes. 8220;I know that one day he will suddenly knock at the door. That8217;s why I keep the plate of food ready for him,8221; she adds.

In 1995, the 27-year-old Jaleel Ahmad Khan left his home, at Shahkote Uri, for work. He didn8217;t return and his mother has been waiting since then. 8220;In the morning, I gave him tiffin along and told him to return early in the evening,8221; Sarwa says. 8220;I didn8217;t know that he wouldn8217;t return ever. That was the last day I have seen him8221;.

The family started its search from the police station. 8220;We went to every jail and security camp in the Valley to search for him,8221; says the distraught mother. 8220;But despite our all efforts, we couldn8217;t trace him8221;.

Sarwa is unawares who has picked up his son. In 1999, the family got news that their son has been killed. 8220;We rushed there but that was not true,8221; says Sarwa. Six tears after his disappearance the hope of his survival returned the family when someone told them that their son has been spotted in a jail in central Kashmir8217;s Budgam district. This news marked the beginning of another search. 8220;We started to look for him again,8221; says the mother. 8220;This time, we scanned every jail and security camp of the Valley but this too didn8217;t yield anything8221;.

The tragedy for the old parents of Jaleel didn8217;t end with his disappearance. Three of Jaleel8217;s older brothers 8212; Mohammad Yaqoob, Ghulam Hassan and Javid Ahmad 8212; married and settled their own separate homes leaving the old parents and their youngest son, Fayaz Ahmad Khan to fend for themselves. Forced by the circumstances, the 20-year-old Fayaz took a menial job at a local quarry. However, in 2004, he came under a boulder and was rendered crippled. And then the earthquake, in October 2005, shattered every wall of their house.

But the septuagenarian Sarwa and her 75-year-old husband Nawab Khan didn8217;t lose the hope. 8220;He will return one day,8221; Sarwa says. 8220;I am sure he can8217;t leave me like that8221;.