IT WAS the November of 2002. The last anyone ever heard of Abdul Rashid Parra, then 27, in Tangmarg's Larkipora Khag, was that he had gone to pay a routine visit to his apple orchard on the outskirts of the village. Family members say a woman from the village saw Parra being picked up by an army patrol passing through the area that day. She was the one who informed the family about the incident.

Not wasting a single moment, the family say, they rushed to the Tangmarg Police Station and lodged a report. "We also met senior district civil and police officers and they assured us that they will take steps to locate him. But nothing was done," says Nabi, who has been following the case at various fora.

The family also visited various army camps looking for Parra, but they say no one even admitted that he had been arrested. Frustrated by the dead-end, villagers took to the streets and observed a day-long strike.

"Parra was innocent. He was not involved in any militant activities after insurgency began in the valley in the early 90s. So we decided to protest," says Parra's neighbour Mohammad Yousuf.

The family finally filed a case with the State Human Rights Commission.

"On the one hand they left no stone unturned to trace their only bread earner, on the other his wife Zaina had to take care of the two children," says a relative, Ghulam Ahmed.

Parra had got married in 1995. His children, 7-year-old Tajamul and 5-year-old Aaqib, have no idea where there father is. "The family, especially the children and Parra's wife Zaina, still hope for his return," says Ahmed.