Shopian: The endless wait of the desperate father of abducted soldier Shakir Manzoor was finally over when his body was recovered after 13 months from Kulgam district on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, locals spotted a decomposed body near Bank tower in Mohammad Pora Kulgam after which police were informed who rushed to the spot and took the body into their possession.
Manzoor Ahmad, father of abducted soldier from Reshiepora Harmain in Shopian district while talking with news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that since last 13 months they were searching for Shakir but till date they failed to get any information about him.
“Wherever dead bodies were found in South Kashmir mainly, we used to rush there to check whether it was the body of Shakir or not,” Manzoor said.
Manzoor said that he along with his other family members besides distant relatives and neighbours have spent days and nights in different orchards and far off places to find his son Shakir.
“On Wednesday, we received a call that a dead body had been found in Mohammad Pora Kulgam and we rushed to the spot and identified him through his hair, teeth and feet,” he said.
A police official said that though it seems the body is of an abducted soldier, final confirmation will come after the DNA report.
Territorial Army soldier, Shakir Manzoor a resident of Shopian’s Reshiepora village was abducted by suspected militants on August 02 last year and his car was burnt down in Kulgam village. His clothes were found in the Landoora area of Shopian on 5 August.
Since August 02 last year, his family members as well as relatives have been searching for him, however, there were no traces of him since then. The family also held a protest and demanded CBI enquiry into the case.
Notably, around a week after his abduction an unverified audio message surfaced on social media in which the speaker claimed to be militant, without identifying himself, claims to have abducted and killed the soldier after which his family members demanded his body.
The speaker also claimed that they have buried him at an unidentified location and his body won’t be returned, like authorities are not returning bodies of militants—(KNO)