J-K terror attack: Karwa Chauth and the call that never came

Jammu, Oct 21: Dressed in her finery, she waited for the phone to ring so she could break the Karwa Chauth fast she had kept for his long life. What came instead was the pronouncement of his death - Shashi Abrol had been killed in a terror attack in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

News of his death came late on Sunday night, long after the moon had risen, the sight millions of Hindu women look out for to break their daylong fast on the day. Fate could not have dealt Ruchi Abrol a crueller blow.

Shashi Abrol, an architectural designer, was among the seven people killed when terrorists attacked a tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway on Sunday.

The attack took place when the team had returned from work to their camp late in the evening. The morning after, his wife held on to their three-year-old daughter, angry, anguished and bewildered at the same time. The couple also has a son studying engineering.

"I spoke to him in the evening. He didn't mention any threats. I was going to the temple as part of my Karwa Chauth fast, and we had a brief conversation. I tried calling him after I returned but he didn’t pick up. After that, his phone was switched off,” a sobbing Ruchi told PTI.

“I waited for his call but had no idea about the attack," she added at her home in Jammu’s Talab Tillo area, her mother-in-law by her side.

No one told them what had happened until late at night. And then too, it came through the media, the family said.

Ruchi was refusing to break her fast, said her sister-in-law Divya.

“Her life is shattered. The festival of Karwa Chauth has turned into a day of catastrophe for us. Our dear Shashi Ji was killed in a cowardly act by terrorists,” she said.

Anxiety mounted as the hours passed by.

Ruchi had completed her rituals and was waiting for a video call from her husband, everyone unaware of the magnitude of the tragedy that had befallen them.

"We tried to comfort Ruchi as we grew worried when his phone switched off late at night. We only learned about his death through the media, which shocked us all,” Divya said.

Shashi was the family’s sole breadwinner.

"What have they gained from this? How will she feed her children now? We curse them," she said.

Shashi, who had been working for the construction company APCO in Sonamarg for the past six years, had last come home two months ago during his son’s college admission.

"His aim was to see his son as a bright engineer," Divya said.

As news of Shashi’s death spread, hundreds of neighbours, relatives and others visited the family home to offer their condolences.

The family criticised the government for failing to inform them promptly and urged the authorities to ensure the swift return of Shashi's body for the last rites.

"This is proof of how much peace and normalcy has been restored. Seven people were massacred. We lost our brother," Shashi’s sister Urvashi said after the incident that came just four days after Omar Abdullah was sworn in as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

The family called on the government to provide financial assistance.

J L Abrol, Shashi’s father, said they had never anticipated any danger in Kashmir. "We demand a job for my daughter in law to feed the family," he said.

"There is no breadwinner left in the family. How will his wife, who is a homemaker, feed the children? She should be given a government job. It is the government's duty to take care of them," a cousin Navin Suri said.

According to Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Shishir Gupta, the loss cannot be compensated but the process to bring back Shashi's body is being fast tracked.