'We've No Clue About His Fate': Kashmir Youth Who Went Missing During Mountain Trek Untraced After Six Years
Mystery continues to shroud the fate of Srinagar resident Hilal Ahmad Dar, who went missing during a trek with his friends on April 14, 2020.
Published : April 20, 2026 at 6:55 PM IST
Srinagar: Nearly six years on, the wait has not ended for Hilal Ahmad Dar's family. Each passing day brings the same unanswered questions as the family continues to hold on to fading hope that the young scholar, just 27 when he went missing during a trek in the upper reaches of Ganderbal in Jammu and Kashmir, will one day return home.
A resident of the Bemina locality in Srinagar, Dar was set to pursue a PhD in Management Studies at the University of Kashmir. On June 14, 2020 he left home early in the morning with his friends to trek to Naranag forests in Ganderbal district, a distance of nearly 50 kilometers. His friends returned home, but Dar did not.
“Is there any progress about his whereabouts?” Dar’s maternal uncle, Nisar Ahmad Bhat, asked this reporter on Monday morning.
“We have no clue what happened to him after he went missing,” Bhat told ETV Bharat. Bhat, along with Dar’s elder brother Irshad Ahmad Dar, searched the Naranag forests for months.
Naranag is an uphill scenic locality in Ganderbal that serves as a base for trekking to Harmukh peak and Gangabal Lake. These destinations have become sought-after among trekkers. From Naranag, trekkers step up to the steep Budsheri before reaching the Gangbal valley. Trekkers reach the Gangbal and Nundkol lakes after trekking from Trinkund top before lugging to their final destinations.
For weeks, Dar’s family members and relatives protested at the Srinagar Press Enclave, urging the police and administration to trace him. Police officials in Ganderbal accompanied the family for days during search operations. His friends who accompanied him during the trek also were part of the search teams.
Bhat said the family can never reconcile with Dar's disappearance unless he returns or they find concrete evidence about his fate.
An orphan, whose parents passed away between 2014 and 2018, Irshad said that for him and other relatives, every day remains “restless.” “We searched for him everywhere in Ganderbal and wherever we heard any rumor about him, but my brother still remains untraced,” he said.
Ten days after he went missing, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said on June 23 that Dar had joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terror outfit. However, the relatives contested the claim and asked the police to provide evidence, even meeting top officials.
Police in Ganderbal registered a case and questioned his friends who accompanied him on the trek, but found no evidence. A police official who was part of the search team said they combed every trail, bush, and spot in Naranag and adjoining areas, but found no trace of him. Even his friends were held in police custody for days while investigators probed Hilal's disappearance and subjected them to lie-detector tests.
Officials who were part of the search teams at the time are now posted in different parts of the Valley and still remember Dar as a young man with a black, shiny beard.
Hilal's sibling, Irshad, helped him complete his MBA from University of Kashmir. He was working in the corporate sector in Delhi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to Kashmir to work from home.
“We are mentally traumatized. Every day we remember him. We cannot forget him unless he returns,” he said.
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