AhlulBayt News Agency: A heavy silence hangs over the Sangoo household in Baba Nagri, a town in Kashmir’s Ganderbal. Weeks after 28-year-old Bilal Ahmad Sangoo returned home in a coffin, the family remains engulfed in grief and uncertainty, with no compensation or official support in sight.
Bilal, a migrant labourer who had worked in Delhi for the past six years, was among the people killed in the November 10 Red Fort blast.
Born into a marginalised Gujjar Muslim family, Bilal had been the only breadwinner. “He always dreamed of lifting us from poverty through his hard work,” said his elderly father, Ghulam Hassan Sangoo. “Since Bilal left us, our home feels empty. We stand alone in our grief, with no support and still no compensation.”
Inside their modest mud-plastered room, Bilal’s mother sits silently, her hands trembling. “She is still in shock,” her husband told Maktoob. “We didn’t tell her at first, but when people gathered outside, she understood on her own.”
Neighbours say Bilal’s income held the entire family together. “Now his parents and younger brothers face a future they cannot afford,” said neighbour Sadiq Ahmed.
Bilal’s father recalls the panic after the blast. “He used to call every day, but that day he didn’t. His phone was switched off.”
Three days passed with no news. “When the truth finally came, it wasn’t from any official,” he lamented. A blurry WhatsApp photo of Bilal’s body in a Delhi hospital reached his younger son. “No parent should hear of their child’s death like this.”
Family bore all expenses, even the coffin
The family claims local authorities asked them to send two people to Delhi for identification. With no savings, they borrowed money.
“Every rupee, from travel to food, documents, hospital procedures and transporting my son’s body, came from our pockets,” Hassan said. “We even had to pay for his coffin.”
Another difficulty emerged once the body reached Baba Nagri. Like many Gujjar families who struggle for cemetery access, Bilal could not be buried in the village graveyard. With no space available, they buried him on a small patch of their own land, highlighting the family’s poverty.
No compensation, silence from the national media
Despite being a victim of a major national tragedy, the family says they have not received any compensation from the government. Although the Delhi Government has announced compensation to the families of those killed and injured, no one has reached out to the family yet.
In a social media post, Delhi’s Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the government had informed the families of those who lost their lives in this incident that they will be given an ex gratia of 10 lakh rupees. But Bilal’s family says they didn’t receive any information.
“We are not asking for money for death, but compensation is their right. Bilal was their only source of income,” expressed Mohammad Sadiq. Hassan said the lack of acknowledgement from political leadership has added to their pain.
'Even Chief Minister Omar Abdullah did not visit us.'
The family also criticises the national media for overlooking their story. “They barely mentioned my son’s name, even though he was the only Kashmiri among the victims,” Hassan reminded. In the fallout of the terror attack, Kashmiris across India have been targeted with several hate crimes against them reported.
“If another community had been affected, the coverage would have been different. National media did not consider my son’s life important enough to report.”
Locals describe this silence as “selective”, saying Bilal’s identity as a Kashmiri Muslim labourer made his story easier to ignore.
Opposition leader Mehbooba Mufti visited the family and demanded compensation, saying Kashmiris working outside must not be targeted. However, the family notes that no one from the current government has visited them.
“Nobody came to help us except Miya Altaf, who supported us personally, not in his capacity as MP but as someone from our community,” Hassan said.
MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi also visited, saying the family’s tragedy disproves the narrative pushed by certain groups. “This incident in a Kashmiri Muslim family exposes the propaganda spread by the BJP and RSS that all Kashmiris are terrorists,” he said.
“Just as people from other states were killed, a Kashmiri Muslim also lost his life. If they target a community and call them terrorists, then how will they describe Bilal?”
He urged the government to provide a job to Bilal’s younger brother and ensure financial support. “No amount of compensation can heal this pain, but the family must be helped to move forward.”
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