Injured Kashmiri CRPF jawan wants to rejoin duty to fight for peace

For Khursheed Ahmad, who received bullet injuries while fighting militants in the Valley, stone-pelting is no solution to solve the Kashmir problem. The 43-year-old head constable with the CRPF, is undergoing treatment in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.

Himself a native of Kupwara district in Kashmir, Khursheed says that the stonepelters in the Valley were being manipulate by forces having vested interests. “It is these vested forces who have hijacked sanity and peace of our Valley.”

While Khursheed can barely move from his hospital bed, he has not lost courage to fight the militancy to its end. “I was born and brought up in Kashmir. Eight bullets, which hit me, have not shattered my courage even one bit. I will continue to fight for peace, for the sake of my country till my last breath.”

Khursheed’s elder brother Rasheed Ahmad, who is currently with the Jat regiment of the Indian Army, narrated the sequence of the terror attack in which the former was injured. “Terrorists ambushed the bus in which a team of CRPF jawans was returning to their base after a practice session at a nearby firing range on June 26. My brother suffered eight bullet injuries - four in the stomach and one each in his left hand, shoulder, lungs and chest. Despite the CRPF personnel suffering eight causalities, the brave fighters managed to neutralise the two militants,” he said. Rasheed said his brother was moved to AIIMS two days after the attack for better treatment.

“My brother and brother-in-law are taking care of me as my wife and three children are at home in Kupwara because of the curfew. I hope normalcy soon returns to our paradise so that we can live in peace,” Khursheed added smilingly, hopeful that things will improve in the Valley. He has seen worse times back in his state when terrorism was at its peak. “Doctors say bullet shrapnel was found in Khursheed’s body. Because of this, an MRI test cannot be conducted. Unless the MRI is done, doctors can’t operate on his body. We hope that he can walk back to his house,” his brother added. According to the doctors, the jawan’s lower spine has sustained major injuries because of which he is not being able to move the lower part of his body.