"IF he is dead, hand over the body to us and if he is alive, where is he," says Abdul Majid Ganai, whose son Sartaj Ahmad has been missing since August 2003 from the remote Wachi village in south Kashmir.

On August 28, 2003, 17-year-old Sartaj was reportedly abducted by two scooter-borne gunmen from his newly constructed house at Ganai Mullah, Wachi. At first, the family suspected it was the handiwork of militants. But Sartaj's mother Saja says she saw him inside the 9 Rashtriya Rifles camp in Kulgam.

"Two unidentified people came to my house and picked up my son," says Gania, now 50. He runs a small grocery shop in the village. "The neighbours and two carpenters who were working in my house saw him being abducted at gunpoint," says Ganai.

The family lodged a missing persons report.

Meanwhile, an unidentified caller told Ganai that Sartaj had been picked up by a BSF personnel, Saran Deep Singh, posted at the Pantha Chowk camp then. "I ignored the call," says Ganai.

But his wife Saja and relatives decided to visit the 9 RR camp in Kulgam. In the camp, Sartaj's relatives claim they saw two young boys being shifted from one barrack to another from a distance. "My wife and relatives recognised Sartaj from a distance," says Ganai.

A few days later, when the family again went to the camp, officials told them that Sartaj has been handed over to a local police station. "The SHO, however, told us that nobody has been brought to the police station," says Ganai.

... contd.