Arrested Amid Art 370 Abrogation, Her Son Was Shunted From Kashmir Jail To Up firstpost.com

In Srinagar’s Maisuma locality, 55-year-old Ateeqa Bano waits for news of her son. Ateeqa’s son, Faisal Aslam Mir, was arrested on 5 August 2019, after the central government abrogated Article 370, stripping Jammu & Kashmir of its special status and bifurcating the state into two union territories. Since then, Ateeqa has seen him barely a handful of times and later learned that Faisal is being held in a jail in Uttar Pradesh.

Sitting on a prayer mat in the small kitchen of her house, Ateeqa indicates the wall, where a calendar and a framed photo of Faisal are fixed. “I have to remember the dates to know when to visit court, and the photo helps me feel closer to my son,” she says. Athena’s husband passed away 15 years ago. Since then, she’s relied on her daughter, now married, and Faisal. From August onwards, Ateeqa has been alone in the family’s house in Maisuma.