The eyes behind the camera are closed forever

Kulgam/Tral, Nov 15: Arshad Ahmad Shah, 33, spent six years documenting the aftermath of violence as a crime photographer with the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Crime Branch. On Friday night, he became part of the tragedy he had so often recorded.

Nine people were killed and 27 others injured -most of them policemen and forensic specialists when a powerful accidental explosion tore through the Nowgam police station on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Among the dead were two revenue officials, a civilian tailor and two police crime photographers.

For Shah’s family, at Chancer village of Kulgam, the loss reopened wounds that had barely begun to heal.

A few years ago, they buried his elder brother, who died in a road accident. Since then, Shah had been the only son of his ageing parents- his father, Nazir Ahmad Shah, a retired policeman, and his mother. His two sisters are married.

Shah leaves behind his wife and two young daughters.

“We don’t have words, only tears,” his uncle said, struggling to steady his voice as he stood among grieving relatives. “After his brother’s death, he was our only hope.”

The family learned of the incident around midnight. “After Fajr prayers, we heard there had been casualties,” the uncle said. “Later, it became clear Arshad was among the dead.”

In Shah’s village, residents gathered long before the ambulance arrived.

Men, women and children waited in silence, some murmuring prayers, others wiping their eyes. When the vehicle finally pulled in, the crowd surged forward to lend a shoulder or see him one last time.

Shah’s father, inconsolable and trembling, stepped forward to help carry the coffin.

He clung to the bier for support, unwilling to let go. Shah was laid to rest in the ancestral graveyard as wails echoed across the village.

Senior police and civil officers, including the DIG South Kashmir, the SSP Kulgam, the SSP Crime Branch and the Deputy Commissioner Kulgam attended the funeral.

“Arshad was a hardworking student and a wonderful human being,” said his batchmate, Sajad Ahmad. “He always wanted to serve with honesty.”

Also killed in the explosion was Shah’s colleague and fellow crime photographer, Javid Mansoor Rather, 30, of Hari Parigam village in Tral. He joined the police department about four years ago as a photographer in the Crime Branch. Before that, he taught at a private school.

His death sent shockwaves through his village, where neighbours remembered him as soft-spoken, gentle and dedicated to his work.

Rather married in 2020 and leaves behind his wife and a three-year-old daughter.

“In the early hours, we learned about his death in the blast. Everyone is mourning,” said the village Numberdar, Khalid Amin Bhat. “He was a very humble man.”

His body arrived in the evening, and senior administrative and police officers joined the funeral prayers. At his home, Rather’s father, Mansoor Ahmad Rather, his mother and other family members were inconsolable as mourners streamed in, many breaking down as they embraced the grieving parents.

Both Shah and Rather had built careers documenting evidence, crime scenes and the human cost of conflict in Kashmir

However, on Friday night, their own lives became part of the painful record they once helped preserve.