GHULAM QADIR SHAH earned his living by doing menial jobs in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. After a long separation from his family of six, in 1999, Shah returned to Sonthipora, his village in Kupwara. Six months later, he disappeared.

Villagers say after he returned to Sonthipora, Shah had taken up farming as he owned a small piece of land.

Shah's family says on the night of March 6, 2000, security forces raided their house and arrested him. When the family questioned them, they say the security personnel threatened them.

Next morning, villagers reported the incident at local police station and filed a missing persons report. "We visited all neighbouring army camps. But nobody confirmed his arrest. We also met senior police officers in Kupwara and Handwara. But they also did not come to our rescue," says Abdul Majid, one of Shah's close relatives.

Relatives extended their search to other parts of the state. "We met several army officers, but nobody acknowledged his arrest," says a neighbour.

The family's hopes were renewed again when someone told them he had seen Shah inside a nearby 14 Rajput camp.

They contacted the camp in-charge. "It was the first time any security agency had admitted that Shah was in their custody," says Majid. The officers, too, assured them of Shah's release.

But after some days, when the family again contacted officers at the camp, they denied that they had arrested Shah. The family says they met the then senior superintendent of police, Kupwara, requesting him to include the name of the unit in the missing persons report.

... contd.