Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani brought honour to his Kashmir hamlet. But no neighbour turned up at the Wani home

In death, Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani has brought a rare honour to this hamlet, nestled among orchards and paddy fields. He is the first Kashmiri to be chosen for the Ashoka Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime gallantry award.

The village’s indifference to the feat by one of its own reflects the times.

News of the honour had reached the village’s hundred-odd households in the morning. By evening, not one visitor had come to the Wani home to offer compliments or express respect. Nor did the family expect any.

“Nobody came, and why should they?” said Mushtaq, younger brother of Nazir, who died fighting six militants in neighbouring Shopian on November 25.

“When he was alive, we prayed for him to be safe at his place and us to be safe here. Now, when he is no more, what purpose will these awards serve?”

Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama in south Kashmir were among the hubs of the violence that singed the Valley after Hizb commander Burhan Wani’s death in 2016.

Cheki Ashmuji is unlike most other villages in the region and its story should have been different. But pro-azadi sentiments have this hamlet in their sway too.

None from this village has ever joined the militancy but around half a dozen of its men are in the army or the paramilitary forces. It has never witnessed stone-throwing. Most of its adults vote for the communist leader Yousuf Tarigami, three-time MLA from Kulgam.

Nazir, whose family says he was 45 while the army claims his age was 38, had moved to a well-protected colony at Kulgam district headquarters after he joined the counter-insurgency force Ikhwan two decades ago.

His parents and three younger brothers continue to live here.