A young soldier from Kashmir, Muhammad Abbas had to carry the dead body of his mother Sakeena Begum after the authorities refused his request for a chopper to take his mother’s body to his village at Karnah in Kupwara district North Kashmir, near the Line of Control.
He trekked with the body of his mother for 10 hours, carrying it on his shoulder despite the risks of avalanches that are very prone to this area.
According to the reports, this brave soldier of Kashmir had to walk a distance of nearly 50 kilometres, as the road between Kupwara and Karnah is still closed, walking through mountain passes. A few of his relatives and some villagers helped him by making a route to pass through along with the body, as the area there had received six to seven feet of snow.
The 25-year-old soldier from Karnah told the media that it was very humiliating for him to wait as the local administration promised him that he would be sent with the body of his mother in a helicopter. “They never kept their promise and finally I decided to take my mother on my shoulders for the burial,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials said that they had arranged the chopper, but the family due to the bad weather conditions decided not to use it. However, Abbas maintained that he had waited for four days but no help came. The officials have yet to clear the highway from Kupwara to Karnah and the people of Karnah are suffering and many patients have died due to the closure of the road.
Two ailing persons have died because of the closure of the Karnah-Kupwara road recently.
The government made no arrangements to air-lift the patients. The lack of apathy by the administration has triggered a lot of protests in Karnah villages. The road is closed for the past 10 days. The authorities, however, have said that it would be opened very soon.