15-year-old who played a brief role in ‘Haider’ joined Lashkar-e-Taiba, shot dead!

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE- A 15-year-old teenager named Saqib Bilal Sheikh who did a short cameo on Shahid Kapoor’s Haider movie was shot dead in a firing on the outskirts of Srinagar, Mujgund area, J &K after he joined militancy.

In an 18 hours gunfight between the military forces, three Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were killed on December 9 which included Saqib and another class 9 student, Mudasir (14) from Hajin Bandipora.

According to reports, thousands of women, children and many others had gathered at Hajin Eidgah for offering funeral prayers to both of them, where both the teens used to play games. The death of the duo has triggered outrage of the Kashmirians.

According to his family members he was great theatre artist and had given auditions for Haider movie in year 2014 and earlier also played various roles in which he was a ‘chocolate boy’ and a ‘protagonist’ as a survivor.

His uncle Asim Aijaz said, “He was in his sixth class when he appeared for two brief shots in Haider which have appeared in the film. In one of the shots he appeared as a ‘chocolate boy’ and in another, he acted of surviving a violent incident in a bus”.Saqib’s all family members including his mother Mehbooba, his maternal uncle Aijaz and his father Bilal Sheikh have expressed their brief on this incident.

His father, Bilal said, “He was a good student. He didn’t even take a single tuition and had big plans for future, he would never talk about militancy or the conflict. His life was filled with his own adventures”.

His uncle added,” Before his Haider stint, he appeared in a stage show ‘Weath chi Yeahi (This is the river)’ at Tagore Hall in which he was the protagonist. He managed to get an award and even went to Odisha to repeat the performance”.

How did they go missing?

The boys had gone missing since they left homes on August 31 and then did not return. No one knew that they would go and join Lashkar-e-Taiba.

They searched for him everywhere and Saqib’s mother also brought an amulet from a faith healer for her son’s safety.

His maternal uncle Aijaz said, “For more than a month, we went to places to find them. Ultimately, we realised the unthinkable”.

Police said they joined militancy immediately after they disappeared.

His family members are still in shock and cannot believe as how did everything happen and how.