Karnah youth goes missing in Russia after being lured into Ukraine war

Srinagar, Jan 17: A family from the border town of Tangdhar Karnah in Kupwara have appealed the Ministry of External Affairs to help in bringing their son back from Russia, who according to them has been lured into the ongoing Ukraine War.

Zahoor Ahmad Sheikh (27) from Karnah near the Line of Control, has gone missing in Russia after being duped by agents with false promises of a high-paying job in December 2023.

Sheikh’s last communication with his family was made on December 31, 2023, during which he had mentioned of a "training" he was to receive. He had also informed his parents of being incommunicado for three months. Since then, his whereabouts remain unknown, leaving his family in anguish.

Zahoor’s father, Mohammad Amin Sheikh, a resident of Haji Nar in Karnah Kupwara told Greater Kashmir that his son, a graduate from Chandigarh was employed at a company earning Rs 30,000 a month, was approached by agents with an offer of a lucrative job in Russia. Enticed by the promise of earning a year’s salary in a single month, Zahoor agreed to move to Russia in search of a brighter future, he said.

However, upon his arrival, Zahoor, according to his father, discovered the grim reality. “Alongside several other young men from India, he was deceived into joining the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war as part of the Russian Army,” he said. “My son thought he was heading towards a better life, but he was lured into a conflict he had no part in.”

Since his last call, Muhammad Amin said, Zahoor’s phone has remained switched off. “For over a year we are tirelessly searching for him but to no avail,” Muhammad Amin said, adding that he reported the case to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian Embassy in Moscow. “Despite multiple trips to Delhi to meet officials we have not received any concrete information about Zahoor’s fate.”

“We have learned that Zahoor is among 15 Indian citizens reported missing in Russia under similar circumstances,” his father said, adding that families of the missing claim their loved ones were coerced into the war. “ Yet our desperate appeals have met with no significant progress.”

“A year and a month have passed. I have knocked on every door, but nobody is helping me trace my son. We are living a nightmare,” he said, adding that the family’s only wish is to know whether Zahoor is alive.

Pertinently, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday shared an update on the Indians who serve in the Russian Army in war with Ukraine. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal informed that the “whereabouts of 16 individuals are not known”. The Russian government has categorised these 16 people as “missing’”.

"We are seeking an early release and repatriation of those who remain," Jaiswal said.“ Of these 126 cases,96 people have returned to India and have been discharged from the Russian Armed Forces. Eighteen Indian nationals in the Russian Army remain, and out of them, the whereabouts of 16 individuals are not known,” Jaiswal said during a media briefing on Friday. “Twelve Indian nationals who were serving in the Russian Army have died,” he added.