Stigma of being a militant’s mother still haunt her

Her son drove the vehicle for only three few months after getting it in 1987. Before getting this vehicle he had promised of not only taking out expenses for his education but also will help his mother in shouldering the responsibility.

But, little she knew that he will desert her and the family to join the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) in 1988 and will graduate on to become its chief commander. Presently, he is said to be operating from Pakistan and is wanted in a number of bomb blast cases across India.

“Now I realise that I failed to judge my son. We would not have lost him (Neeta) if I had been able to control him in the beginning,” she regrets.

A woman of steely nerves as she has proved time and again, Kour always faced hardships without succumbing to them.

Belonging to a poor family, she was married when in Class VII to Darshan Singh, a tailor, of Simbal Camp. Her happiness was short-lived as few years after the marriage, Darshan got bed-ridden following a paralytic attack.

To keep her kitchen-fire burning, she took up the job of a housemaid. It was out of this earning that she had to manage the household and children.

These difficulties apart, she completed her masters in arts after getting a bachelors degree in education.

Even today, the stigma of being a militant’s mother continues to haunt her regularly.

“All the respect I commanded at my school dwindled when police raided our house for the first time. Thereafter, it became a routine for us. They would knock our doors, mostly during odd hours, use foul language, ransack things and leave,” she said.

Fear stalks around Kour’s house so much that The Indian Express team was asked by the policemen deployed there to go back. “Bhaisahab, you are taking a risk, better don’t go,” a policeman advised.

All that proves a hype as an aged woman greets you with a smile and lets you in. “I though you people are from some security agency and want to search our house,” she said.

“I don’t read newspapers. Every time I do so, I scan whether any terrorist attack has taken place. I often end up connecting the incidents with my son. I don’t feel any of these acts helps the Sikh quam, but it only gives invitation to police to conduct raids of our house,” she added.