Tabarak Hussain, 32, the mentally challenged son of Abdul Malik, resident of Sabzkot, Kotli in Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) inadvertently crossed the Ceasefire Line on August 21. The Indian Border Security Forces indiscriminately fired upon him and captured him alive in injured condition. He had at least two bullet wounds, one in his thigh and the other in his shoulder, and was being operated on at the Army General Hospital Rajouri.
The family has the record of all the medical reports and prescriptions which substantiate that Tabarak was mentally challenged and was undergoing treatment since 2016. BSF and Jammu & Kashmir Police in a joint press conference alleged him of being a militant guide from Azad Jammu and Kashmir being sent by the Pakistani Intelligence agency (ISI) to facilitate infiltration of a militant group across the Ceasefire Line near Naushehra area of Rajouri in IIOJK.
Tabarak despite receiving bullet wounds was interviewed by Indian media at Army Hospital Rajouri in presence of Brigadier Rajeev Nair and other BSF officials. Following his arrest and subsequent arbitrary detention on 21st August 2022, the BSF, and Jammu & Kashmir Police subjected him to third degree torture which resulted in killing of Tabarak Hussain under custody on 3rd September 2022.
Tabarak Hussain’s family in an interview with Journalist Abid Andleeb termed his forced confession a concocted story and exposed Indian propaganda about his (Tabarak’s) arrest and subsequent extrajudicial killing during captivity. In the video which has run viral over social media, Tabarak’s father said, “My son is not a militant, he is mentally challenged and has been receiving treatment since 2016 at Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi.” Tabarak Hussain’s younger brother Haroon, a daily wager said that he (Tabarak) due to his unstable mental condition was tied at home somehow fled and went missing on August 20, and thenext day they got to know that he has been shot at and arrested by Indian Border Security Forces. Haroon while recalling the 2016 incident, when Haroon and Tabarak were both arrested by Indian Border Security Forces, and were arbitrarily detained for 26 months. The duo was released after the mental condition of Tabarak exacerbated during captivity, and the brothers were repatriated through Wagah-Atari Border.
While the family was still demanding Tabarak’s unconditional release and repatriation, the news of his extra-judicial killing reached his family on September 4. A video of the press conference about his death by BSF Brigadier Rajeev Nair and SSP Rajouri Mohammad Aslam was shared by multiple Indian news channels.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on September 5, summoned Indian Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad to lodge a protest and strongly condemn the extra-judicial killing of Tabarak Hussain a mentally challenged from Pakistan Administered Kashmir citizen, who had inadvertently tried to cross the ceasefire line. Tabarak Hussain, was captured by Indian Border Security Forces on August 21, near the ceasefire line in the Naushera sector.
Pakistan’s MOFA underscored that such incidents had further heightened Pakistan’s serious concerns over the safety, security, and well-being of other Pakistanis in Indian custody. India’s Charge d’Affaires was also reminded of another brutal extrajudicial killing of a Pakistani prisoner Muhammed Ali Hussain by the Indian authorities recently, and the extrajudicial execution of Zia Mustafa on October 23, 2021.
