IN Tariq Ahmad Lone's case, an electrician with the Centaur Lake View hotel who went missing in the custody of the CRPF, even the international human rights group, the Amnesty International's intervention failed to trace his whereabouts.

On September 9, 1990, personnel of the 33 battalion of CRPF, headed by a government official, cordoned off Lone's residence at Wanigam in Pattan and arrested him. The officer who was leading the search party assured the family that Lone will be released after questioning. Seventeen years have already passed, the family still waits for his return.

"What happened to my brother in the CRPF custody is still a mystery," says Shabir Ahmad, Tariq's younger brother. "I want an answer from the J-K government and security agencies. Is my brother dead or alive?"

To trace Tarqi, the family travelled all districts of Kashmir and visited every major jail in the Valley. The efforts, however, proved a futile. A senior government officer told the family that Tariq was lodged in a Rajasthan jail. "But on reaching Rajasthan, jail authorities denied having any knowledge," says Shabir.

Fed up with "inability" of police and CRPF officials to trace Lone, the family moved court to seek justice. After hearing the writ petition, the court asked police and CRPF to produce Tariq before it. But the security agencies failed to do so.

"Police as well as the CRPF tried to avoid the court hearings," Ahmad said.

The family also sought intervention of Amnesty International to help trace missing Tariq. The human rights agency asked the J-K government to submit a report. The government, in response to Amnesty International's plea denied having any information about missing Tariq.

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