'Shattered Lives': The Tailor, Government Officials And The Explosives That Killed 9 In Kashmir
The blast that occurred during inspection of seized explosives shook Kashmir days after the car explosion near Red Fort in Delhi.
Published : November 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM IST
|Updated : November 16, 2025 at 10:50 AM IST
Srinagar: The neighbourhood of Nowgam is scarred with mangled vehicles, blood stains and broken window panes as explosive material confiscated from a terrorist module linked to the Delhi blast exploded, shattering the calm of this residential area.
Policemen, civil officials and a civilian tailor were among the nine killed in the explosion that rattled the entire capital Srinagar as people were sleeping on Friday night.
Located inside the residential colony in Nowgam along the National Highway 44, locals recall the police station was abuzz for the last one week as teams of officials descended after the J&K Police unravelled an inter-state terror module. Four doctors, including the Delhi’s Red Fort suicide bomber, were members of the network from whom an enormous cache of 2,900 kilograms of ammonium nitrate was recovered from Faridabad.
This, according to officials, was transported and stacked in the Srinagar police station as the case was registered there.
Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat said the explosion occurred around 11:20 pm when a team from the Forensic Sciences Laboratory were readying samples for forensic and chemical examination of the confiscated explosives.
"On account of voluminous recovery, the procedure was underway for the last two days by the FSL team. Due to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, the sampling process and handling were being done with extreme caution by the FSL team,” he said.
Just a few metres away from the police station, the home of Mohammad Shafi Parray became a centre of grief. Mourners trickled in since morning as wails and cries echoed through the neighbourhood. His wife’s desperate cries have no answers for any visitor. She is seeking the whereabouts of the family’s lone breadwinner husband.
“Me gasee ne maal, me gasee shafi yaar (I don’t need money, I need my friend Shafi),” she shouted as elderly women consoled her. “Was he the only tailor? Shafi was my only hope. I am alone now.”
The 50-year-old slain was the lone breadwinner of his family, comprising two sons and a daughter and was at the police station to stitch bags for the samples, a task he had undertaken since early morning.
“He went to the police station and took his sewing machine along for stitching in the morning. But he returned to offer Friday’s noon prayers and collected donations for the mosque as well. Late evening, he came to close his shop and we chatted briefly before he paddled his cycle towards his neighbourhood,” said his counterpart neighbouring shopkeeper outside Parray’s shuttered shop, as the locality grieved the death.
Shafi dined at home and promised to return after completing his assignment at the police station. He never returned.
The scenes were similar when the bodies of the slain reached their native places. In the adjoining Natipora neighbourhood, the family of Suhail Ahmad Rather is in deep grief and shock as the body reaches their home. He was the lone breadwinner for his family, comprising his parents and younger brother. His two sisters are already married. Sohail was running a Community Service Centre and also worked as a chowkidar in the J&K Revenue Department.
At the home of slain constable Mohammad Amin in Bemina’s Housing Colony, his family waited in desperate hope that he might return until the afternoon. They were unaware that tragedy had struck them until morning.
“A neighbour came to inform me to visit the Police Control Room at 8:45 pm. But I could not identify the body of my brother as it was beyond recognition. We waited for hours in the hope he might be missing or would have taken refuge somewhere,” recounted the slain’s brother as he broke down at his home.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Budgam’s Soibugh village, where on Saturday, mourners gathered to lay Naib Tehsildar Muzaffar Ahmad to rest. Men and women stood shoulder to shoulder in the cold air, many clutching prayer beads, others wiping their eyes as the coffin was carried through the narrow lanes.
At his ancestral graveyard, the grief was overwhelming. Abdul Qayoom, a neighbour who grew up with Muzaffar, stood quietly beside the family. “He was the kind of man you trusted without thinking,” he said, his voice unsteady. “Our village has lost someone who always carried everyone’s worries with him.”
Another neighbour, Rafiqa Begum, recalled how Muzaffar often visited elders in the locality. “He never came empty-handed. Even if it was late, he would ask if we needed anything. Who will knock on our doors like that now?” she said softly.
As senior officials joined locals in offering prayers, emotional slogans rose through the crowd, echoing heartbreak over a death no one had imagined a day earlier.
In Kupwara’s Muqam-e-Shahwali, grief settled over the village like a thick cloud as people prepared for the burial of Inspector Asrar Ahmad of the State Investigation Agency. The lively lanes were unusually quiet, with residents speaking in hushed tones.
Asrar’s close neighbour, Shabir Ahmad, looked at the stream of mourners and shook his head gently. “This whole place feels empty without him,” he said. “Asrar Sahab treated every person with kindness. It didn’t matter if you were young or old. He made you feel seen."
Many residents said the hardest moment came when Asrar’s father, a retired headmaster, walked silently behind the coffin. “A father should never have to see this day,” said Nazir Ahmad, a relative standing nearby. “It broke something inside all of us.”
In Tral’s Hari Parigam village in Pulwama, the loss of Javaid Ahmad Rather, known lovingly as Mubashir, left neighbours devastated. The 32-year-old Crime Branch photographer was remembered for his soft voice, gentle smile and sincerity that made him instantly trusted by everyone around him. As mourners gathered outside his home, Bashir Mir, a neighbour, struggled to speak.
“Javaid never hurt anyone, not with words, not with actions. He was too soft for this world,” he said, wiping his face with his scarf. "He used to stand with us during community events and today we are standing for his last rites."
The Jammu and Kashmir government later announced financial relief for the families left shattered by the Nowgam Police Station explosion. The government said each family of the deceased would receive Rs 10 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and that injured individuals would receive Rs 1 lakh. (With inputs by Muhammad Zulqarnain Zulfi)
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