Slain J&K cop’s family virtually on the streets after breadwinner is killed by terrorists

Srinagar, Oct 4: On the eve of Eid, police constable Mohammad Yaqoob Shah, 35 was visiting his family and his ageing mother at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. What was meant to be a happy home coming turned out to be a nightmare and Yaqoob was targeted by terrorists and shot dead on August 22.

Yaqoob who was serving in the District Police Lines, Pulwama was not on official duty when he was killed. The killing came in the wake of terrorists of the Hizbul Mujahideen issuing a series of threats to the local cops to resign from their jobs or face death. They had even threatened to target families.

For the family there could not have been a bigger nightmare. He was a father like figure and the sole breadwinner on whom his mother, three brothers and their seven children depended upon. The future of his seven nieces who depended on him looks blurry with the death of Yaqoob.

Rabia, Sania and their brother brother are studying in Class 12, 9 and 8 respectively.

Yaqoob had taken it upon himself to educate them. Their father works as a local labour and earns a measly sum, not enough to support the family. He wanted them to make it big. He would also tell them that he would educate them so that they become engineers of doctors.

A visit by Yaqoob would always bring cheers to the family. He would come with gifts and while returning, he would give them some cash for them to take care of their personal needs.

The mother is inconsolable. She rues the day she made that phone call to her son asking him to come home. A day before his death, she had called his son and told him that she was feeling unwell. She had even broken down when she had spoken to him. He immediately decided that he would visit her after the phone call. However fate had something else in store.