His mother was just going to bed and his wife was preparing milk for their four-month-old daughter when they both heard the sound of bullets. What they saw next left them in shock – Aijaz in pain and covered with blood. The former sarpanch and BJP worker died of injuries late on Saturday after a gunman shot him inside his own house in south Kashmir’s Hirpora village.
The village in Shopian district, which lies on the historic Mughal Road, is in mourning. The route was once used by emperors to visit Kashmir and is significant because it connects the Valley to Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu.
Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh had only just laid out the bedding for his family and guests to retire for the night when a person came asking for him. The guests were resting after dinner and the whole village was asleep when the incident happened.
“We had guests, Aijaz had laid out the bedding for them and he was playing with his younger daughter, who was lying next to me when I asked him to look after his son who was crying in the other room,” said his mother.
By the time his mother reached him, the gunman had Aijaz cornered. “When I reached, he opened fire again at him and I was clueless as to what to do,” she told News18.
She placed her hand on her stomach, indicating how the gunman shot her son multiple times. “I placed my hand over his stomach immediately, but I felt he was gone,” she said.
Aijaz and his wife had just had their third baby four months ago. “I have lost my prince; how will I survive?” she said, inconsolable.
“I was making milk for my daughter in the kitchen when I heard the sound of bullets, and then saw a man escape,” she said, adding that Aijaz worked for the poor and followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of uplifting the underprivileged.
“He supported Modi because he helps the poor. Now, I have three kids including a four-month-old daughter, but who will support me? God has taken away my only hope,” she said as her husband’s body was brought into the house.
Earlier this year, a video of Aijaz praising the prime minister emerged on social media. In it, he said he was a former “stone-pelter”, who was now working for development. He claimed that people were paid Rs 500 to throw stones at the security forces.
Just before Aijaz was killed, militants attacked a tourist couple from Rajasthan, identified as Farha and Tabrez. Both are undergoing treatment at a hospital but, in Kashmir, tourists have been targeted after a long time.
Political parties condemned the attacks while National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah called for a probe. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti questioned the timing of the attacks.
“The timing of these attacks, given that the elections in the south were delayed without any reason, is a cause for concern. Especially, keeping in mind normalcy claims touted by GOI,” she posted on X.
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