Muhammad Mukaram
Srinagar, Oct 4 : In view of the ruling Omar-led government's complete failure to come to the rescue of the people who remained trapped for days together in the flood waters in most part of the Srinagar, it were the local youth who rescued many of them.
Adil Ahmad Chopan, a young volunteer, was said to have lost his life while rescuing people from their inundated houses at Rajbagh on September 10.
Hailing from Zabarwan, 20-year-old Adil, however, shattered the hopes and dreams of his poor family when his friends, who had accompanied him in the rescue and relief work on that fateful day, brought his body to his home at Pahloo Brein in the evening.
His death kept everybody wailing in the locality.
According to her mother, he had promised her to come back in the evening after helping in the rescue of the marooned people.
"Adil was apple of my eye and of course God's noble gift. I have lost a son. For five days, he worked tirelessly, helping in the rescue of people who were trapped in the houses by the floods," Shameema Bano, mother of the deceased told Early Times.
Recalling the fateful day of September 10, she said, "Adil, as usual, with his other friends went to Rajbagh in the morning to rescue the flood victims and promised me that he would be back in the evening. But in the evening his friends brought his dead body here," she said.
Shameema said sobbingly that her husband, who is physically impaired, could not believe that Adil was brought dead.
"Floods destroyed my small world. Adil was my only hope, a sincere son of his disabled father. He sacrificed his childhood to support the family after I met with an accident some fifteen years back," said Gulam Qadir Chopan, Adil's blind father.
Chopan said that his son was tirelessly working to support his family and also paying for the education of his younger brothers.
"After my accident, my son took the burden of the family on his young shoulders. I was not disappointed at all that I am disabled now as my son never let me feel that I am useless. But Allah who gifted Adil to me had some other plans. He initially worked as a labourer and after years of hard work became a plumber," says Chopan, who is now worried about how to take care of his family.
"What a noble guy he was. I am proud of my son who lost his life while saving others. What Adil did is depicted in films but my hero has set an example for everyone by sacrificing his life," the grieving father said. |
