In a tragic coincidence, one-year-old Daamin and four-year-old Uhbaan lost their father, Jammu and Kashmir Police officer Arshid Ahmed Khan, on a Father’s Day.
As the body of Khan, who breathed his last at AIIMS in Delhion Sunday evening, was brought to the police lines here on Monday, Uhbaan wasunable to gauge the tragedy.
Held by his maternal uncle at the wreath-laying ceremony,Uhbaan, too young to understand the magnitude of the tragedy that has befallenon him, woke from a slumber with the bugler playing the ‘last post’ and guardcalling for ‘shok salami shastra’ (reversing of arms in honour of fallensoldiers).
His brother Daamin, who is just 18-month old, was home andhe had to play the role of an elder son at this tender age. He was carried by apolice officer near the coffin of his father where he placed flowers.
Uhbaan also gave the last salute to his father before he wastaken to his home in the civil lines area near Karan Nagar.
K Vijay Kumar, the Ddvisor to the Jammu and Kashmirgovernor, Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh, Additional Director Generalof Police B Srinivas and Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Swayam PrakashPani were the pallbearers.
Hundreds of people gathered at Khan’s house to have a lastglance of the fallen police officer.
Daamin could be seen looking into eyes of the mourners andoften greeted the known faces with smiles.
Born to Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and Mehbooba Begum in BalgardanSrinagar, Khan was appointed as Sub-Inspector in Jammu and Kashmir Police in2002 and served in various important capacities.
During the 2016 agitation following the death of BurhanWani, Khan, who was then posted as Station House Officer of Bijbehara,single-handedly cleared the highway and ensured that there was no trafficrestriction.
Khan, whose ancestors were from Peshawar in Pakistan, neversuccumbed to political pressure and was shifted from Bijbehara after he hadrounded off many activists of a political party.
Khan had suffered injures in last Wednesday’s militantattack in Anantnag in which five CRPF personnel were killed by a militant, whotargeted a patrol team of the paramilitary force.
People at Chadoora in central Kashmir, where he was earlierposted as Station House Officer, had offered prayers for his early recovery.Khan, who was posted in the volatile southKashmir for some years now, “was a brilliant operational officer”,recalled one of his senior officers.