At the Kawa house at Aali Kadal in Srinagar, all women members of the family are huddled in one room. Neighbors and relations are visiting the house trying to console Fatimah, mother of 37-year-old Bilal Ahmad Kawa.
Bilal Ahmad Kawa was arrested by the Delhi Police on January 10, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The Delhi police have claimed after his arrest that he was a Lashker-e-Taiba operative and pro-claimed offender in the case in the Red Fort attack of 2000.
Fatimah is shocked over the arrest and said her son had been framed. According to her, he usually visits his brother, Niyaz Ahmad Kawa, who stays in Delhi.
“This time he was also going for a medical check-up as his cholesterol level had gone up”, she said.
“We have a flat in Delhi. My son would visit his brother in winters. We are a business family. We have never heard of the Delhi Police or the Jammu and Kashmir Police. No policeman has ever visited our house in the past two decades but suddenly, they have arrested my son and charged him in this case. He is innocent,” said Fatimah.
Kawas are into leather business. Their house is located adjacent to once Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp. The camp has been now removed from the area. But the police station is also nearby. The family says if their son was involved in the case, why the Delhi Police or the Jammu and Kashmir Police didn’t knock their door for two decades.
“The police station is nearby. We were not hiding anywhere. We have flat in Delhi too. Why all over sudden the Delhi police have arrested my nephew?” asked Mohammad Iqbal,
uncle of Bilal.
The family said when Bilal was arrested by the Delhi Police he was carrying a lotus stem, which usually Kashmiris miss in Delhi, for his brother. His brother, Niyaz Ahmad Kawa, lives at the Filmistan at the Sadder Bazar.
“We would earlier live there as tenants. Niyaz is living in Delhi for the last 20 years at the same place and they have never faced any query from the police,” added Fatima.
He has a driving licence of Delhi, she said.
At the nearby police station Maharaj Gunj-Zainkadal, officials said they have no FIR against Bilal Ahmad Kawa, adding that they have not received any notification that declares him as proclaimed offender.
