Pulwama school won’t open till wounds heal

Today, Ahmad’s mother Jana, 55, was stretched out on the verandah, wailing, held down by a group of neighbours. Elder brother Tariq, a Class XII student, was crying loudly.

For them, and Ahmad’s father Ali Mohammad Bhat, the trauma was compounded by the tense hours spent searching for Ahmad — till they came across his body at Pulwama Police Lines.

Says Jana: ‘‘As soon as news of the explosion came in, we started to look for him. We rushed to SMHS and Soura Medical Institute in Srinagar but could not find him. We asked police, school teachers, students and neighbours but no one had any idea about his whereabouts.’’

Says Tariq: ‘‘At 5.30 pm, we found his body in a room at the Pulwama Police Lines. I touched it, it was cold. I fainted. We can’t cope with this grief.’’

Ahmad’s father, Ali Mohammad Bhat, sells groceries on a handcart to manage a family of six, including two daughters. ‘‘Who has killed my innocent brother?’’ cries Amina, Issac’s elder sister. ‘‘He was a good student and had been awarded a scholarship by the government a few months back,’’ says Jana.

Isaac’s teacher, Mohammad Yousuf, says he was not aware how many students were wounded. ‘‘I was in the compound when the explosion shook the ground. We ran for our lives but I could see many students falling down, some crying, others screaming for help,’’ he says.

Yousuf said the school management has requested authorities to give them more time before reopening. ‘‘The teachers and students are not ready to join. Apart from damage to the building and injuries, there are psychological wounds that have to heal,’’ he says.

Many students defied the Hurriyat Conference’s hartal call today and reached school to ask about their friends and teachers. Says Yousuf Dar, a Class X student who had come to collect his schoolbag that he had left behind in yesterday’s panic. ‘‘We are afraid to go back. There are scars in our heart,’’ says Dar, adjusting the bandage on his injured ear. His friend, Jehangir, is very disturbed. ‘‘Why are school children being targetted?’’