Abbu is Sick, He’ll Return Soon: 3-Year-Old Waits for Dead Father
Zakir was stabbed in the chest when he went to read the afternoon namaz in Mustafabad mosque on 25 February.
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“Abbu is very sick. He is in the hospital. When he comes back, my sister and I will play Subway Surfers with him.”
Aafia, 3-year-old daughter of Zakir, one of the 47 killed in the violence that raged across northeast Delhi on 24-25 February, looked up at her mother, who pressed my hand.
Zakir’s daughters Ayesha, 8, and Aafia didn’t know their father had been stabbed in the chest when he went to read the afternoon namaz in the nearby Mustafabad mosque on 25 February afternoon.
I met the Aafia on 27 February when the family was still waiting for Zakir’s body to be released by GTB Hospital.
“There is a huge queue. The bodies are being released according to serial numbers,” Zakir’s younger brother, Sahil, said. The following day, he called and said, “We just buried our brother.”
The older daughter, Ayesha, understands her Abbu won’t ever return. But Aafia still believes she’ll get to play with him again – the same way they used to once Zakir returned from welding work.
“Abbu is sick so he is resting,” Aafia told her uncle.
Muskan and Zakir’s mother hugged Aafia tighter. “How do I explain to my children what happened to their father?”
‘This Hatred Will Consume Us All’
“What do people gain from this? So many lives are lost now. The hatred will consume us all. This must stop,” Muskan said, weeping.
As Aafia still waits for her father, the family is yet to receive compensation from the government. The girl’s mother sobs, “Zakir and I had many dreams for our daughters. How do I fulfil them alone now?”