Kashmir: Victim's kin says no to compensation

SRINAGAR: Abid Nabi, who lost his 18-year-old brother Fida in police firing last month, has no intention of taking the Rs 5 lakh compensation that Union home minister P Chidambaram offered on Saturday to the next of kin of the 109 killed in the ongoing agitation.
"I don't want blood money," said Abid. "I want justice. My brother sacrificed his life. I want the man who killed him to be punished."
Abid is a 22-year-old photographer who was away in Sopore covering a protest demonstration on August 3 when he got the phone call that has changed his life.His youngest brother called him to say that Fida was injured in police fire.
It took Abid two hours to get back to Srinagar, after fighting his way past several security check posts on the way. Fida was on a ventilator when he reached the hospital and six days later, he passed away.
Abid says Fida was playing carom with his friends in Usmanabad colony in the HMT area of Srinagar on that fateful day. Suddenly, they heard that the body of another friend, Suheil, also a victim of police firing, had been brought to the house. They rushed to join the funeral procession and like all such processions, it was hampered by stringent security.
Inevitably, the boys in the procession resorted to throwing stones, including Fida. But according to Abid, what really hurts is that Fida was shot at close range by the security forces. The bullet hit directly in his left cheek and the injury proved fatal.