Srinagar: The dreams of a young man from Srinagar have turned into a family’s worst nightmare. Faizan Rasool, 28, from Safakadal, left home with hopes of building a better future—only to fall into the hands of human traffickers in Myanmar.
Now, his family is drowning in despair, unable to pay the ₹4.5 lakh ransom demanded by his captors. His mother clutches an old photograph of him, tears streaming down her face. “He left with dreams in his eyes… Now, we don’t even know if he’s alive,” she cries.
Faizan’s ordeal began when a friend lured him with promises of a job in Thailand. Instead, he was smuggled across borders and abandoned in Myanmar, where kidnappers now dictate his fate. His family, struggling to make ends meet, has no means to secure his release.
The cruelty of this scheme is not new. In a bitter twist, another Kashmiri man—also named Faizan—was recently freed after his family managed to gather the ransom. But their relief came at a steep cost: they are now buried in debt.
This disturbing trend is on the rise. Desperate for employment, Kashmiri youth are falling victim to fraudulent job offers, only to find themselves trapped in foreign lands—forced into cybercrime or held hostage for ransom.
Faizan’s father, his voice trembling, makes a desperate appeal: “We are helpless. If the government does not act, we may never see our son again.”
As human traffickers grow more ruthless and families remain powerless, urgent action is needed—before another Kashmiri youth disappears into this dark abyss.(KB)
