Twenty two-year-old Ummer Fayaz Parray was allegedly abducted by militants in Shopian on 9 May. His body was found the following morning, riddled with bullet holes.
Ummer was a lieutenant, the first from Kulgam in Kashmir, to be selected at the National Defence Academy. The son of an apple farmer, he was fond of playing sports and would have turned 23 in June.
“I miss him a lot,” his friend Hilal Ahmed said, who remembers Ummer as an efficient and good student.
He is survived by his parents and two sisters, who are students of Darul Uloom in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoband.
Fayaz was popular among the troops. During his time at the NDA, he was part of the hockey team. He also enjoyed volleyball and cricket, his friends from the NDA said.
(With inputs from Muneeb Ul Islam from Kulgam.)
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