Son of a Govt teacher ends life

In a heart-wrenching incident, a son of a government  school teacher ended his life in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district alleging that he was forced to take the extreme step after his father was denied salary for past two years.

The deceased youth was identified as Sohaib Mir, 25, a  B.Tech. from Avial village of Manzgam, D H Pora area.

His father Bashir Ahmad Mir teaches in a local Government Middle School.

On Friday, Sohaib consumed some poisonous substance and was hospitalised, and died on Saturday.

Soon, a pre-recorded video message of Sohaib citing the reason why he was committing suicide went viral on social media.

“My father has been denied salary for past over two years and we are living a miserable life. There are many more teachers like him. So, I am sacrificing myself for all those so that they get their due,” Sohaib is heard as saying in a hushed tone.

He concludes his last message by asking his family to be patient.

“You have already exhibited a lot of patience. Allah is with you,” Sohaib says before he ends the video recording.

Mir, a former militant, according to his relatives was arrested on his return from Pakistan in 1990s.

“He spent several years in jail to be released in 2005,” his relatives said.

They said as he was appointed as Rehabar-e-Taleem (ReT) in 2008.

“After verification, he was allowed to join the department as part of the government’s rehabilitation policy for former militants,” his relatives said.

They said that he was regularised after five years of service and was getting salary before it was stopped all of a sudden in 2019.

“The last few years have been very tough for the family with literally no source of income. The little orchard land they own hasn’t been given them much yield too,” his relatives said.

They said that despite financial constraints, the family would never seek help from anyone.

“Whenever anyone tried to help them, they would deny saying they have everything,” his relatives said.

Sohaib is survived by his parents, a brother, also an engineering graduate, and a sister, a postgraduate.

District Teachers Forum President, Sheikh Intikhab Aalam said that Mir’s salary was stopped by the Department of School Education along with 125 other teachers in Kashmir for want of re-verification.

“We made several representations to Director Education to release their salary as per the directions of the court but to no avail,” Aalam said.

He appealed the Lieutenant Governor, Commissioner Education and Director Education to release the salary of these teachers on humanitarian grounds.

Chief Education Officer Muhamad Ashraf Rather confirmed that the salary of Mir along with 10 other teachers of Kulgam district had been stopped in 2019 due to an adverse CID report.

“The transition of RET teachers had to take place under SMUGRA scheme to PG-2 and PG-3 after J&K became a union territory in 2019. However, it couldn’t take place for these 10 teachers including Mir due to their adverse CID report,” the CEO Kulgam said.