Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, 22, had been commissioned in the Indian Army only five months back on 10 December, 2016.
Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, 22, had been commissioned in the Indian Army only five months back on 10 December, 2016. On Tuesday night, he was abducted by five to six militants from his relative’s house in south Kashmir’s Shopian. His bullet-riddled body was found in Herman area of Shopian on Wednesday morning, a police official said. [caption id=“attachment_3435232” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]![Umer Fayaz. Image courtesy: @ANI_news/Twitter]()
Ummer Fayaz. Image courtesy: @ANI_news/Twitter[/caption] According to CNN-News18, protesters — including people from his village he grew up with — attacked the army during Fayaz’s funeral and threw stones at the army personnel. The Indian Express reported that Fayaz’s body was first taken to a district hospital in Shopian for a postmortem examination. The report also said that Fayaz’s father is a farmer and has a small-time apple business. Born on 8 June, 1994, Fayaz hailed from Sursone village in Kulgam district. His friends from the National Defence Academy recall that he was a cheerful, agile young man who was extremely fond of sports. He also played on the NDA’s hockey team, also played volleyball and was quite popular in his home town. A few months ago, Fayaz was invited to inaugurate a showroom in Kulgam. He was posted with two Rajputana Rifles in Akhnoor. The 22-year-old had not even completed the Young Officers Course, which he was set to head for in September this year. He was on leave to attend his cousin’s wedding in Shopian when he was murdered by militants. News18 reported that he was picked up by four militants from Shopian and taken to Herman Chowk, where the young officer was shot dead. NDTV also reported that Fayaz’s family was too terrified to report the kidnapping of the officer and had hoped that the militants would send him back alive. An army official said the army is verifying the circumstances in which Fayaz was found dead. The Indian Army also issued a statement after Fayaz’s murder. “Some unidentified terrorists yesterday abducted and then killed unarmed Army Officer Lieutenant Umar Faiyaz, who had come on leave to his native place in Kulgam, south Kashmir to attend a marriage in his family. The Army salutes the braveheart and stands by the bereaved family in this hour of tragedy and commits to bringing the perpetrators of this heinous act of terror to justice,” India Today quoted the statement as saying. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called Fayaz’s murder “a dastardly act of cowardice” and called Fayaz a role model.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also expressed grief at Fayaz’s death.
With inputs from PTI
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