In solitude and silence she cries, for love

The entire week that preceded the morning when her husband was killed, Indonesian national Wiwiek Widiasati was filled with trepidation. She would constantly keep track of her husband Abid Hussain Lone’s movements, always anxious about her husband venturing out. Sometimes she’d follow after him when he left the house.

“The situation in Kashmir—the search and cordon operations, the protests and subsequent crackdowns by forces—had made her paranoid,” said Lone’s paternal uncle, Ghulam Mohammad. “On that fateful morning, she fled the house to look for him after she heard a gunshot. It was as if she knew in her heart that something bad was going to happen.”

Abid was among seven civilians killed in an anti-militancy operation in Pulwama on December 15. His family has accused the Army of target killing, saying that Lone was killed by a single shot fired at a close range. “The bullet entered near his mouth. Clearly, he was shot to be killed,” said another relative.

While death and destruction have become synonymous with life in Kashmir, his Indonesian wife is yet to come to terms with the loss of her husband.

Lone’s cousin, Zahoor Ahmed, said Wiwiek gave her in-laws the slip at least twice to go sit beside her husband’s grave in Karimabad’s graveyard. Abid was buried in the grave along with one of the three slain militants killed by government forces on December 15.

“The first time she went missing, we panicked,” Ahmed said. “A local Imam who had seen her called us and said she was at the martyrs’ graveyard. We went to get her back. The second time, when she wasn’t home, we knew where to find her.”

Wiwiek’s and Abid’s transnational marriage is not the first in the Valley but for relatively culturally conservative Karimabad, their union was definitely a first. Wiwiek, a resident of Sudirman in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, was on a three-month training program in the Hyderabad office of United Health group. Here, she met Abid for the first time. They maintained contact after she returned to Indonesia and in 2016, Abid travelled all the way to Jakarta to ask Wiwiek’s mother for her daughter’s hand in marriage.

The Nikkah ceremony was held in Indonesia and a reception was held in Pulwama in early 2017. This was Wiwiek’s first visit to Kashmir. She was called Saima by her in-laws and neighbours and was made to feel welcome in the new place.

The couple had a baby girl three months ago whom they named Adeefa. After Abid’s younger brother Saqib decided to move to Bangalore for higher studies, Abid decided to move back to Kashmir to stay with his parents for some time.

“He resigned from his office in Hyderabad. They were deciding whether to stay on or move back to Hyderabad,” said Saqib.

All their plans were dashed when the news of Abid’s killing arrived. Wiwiek had gone out looking for her husband and upon her return, she was told that he was no more.

According to an interview given by Wiwiek, Abid had gone to fetch detergent and milk. He had told his wife that on his way back home, he would meet up with a cousin and might visit the family-owned apple orchard to take a look. It is here that Abid was shot.

“The orchard where he was killed is more than a kilometre from the encounter site. Does it make any sense that he would throw stones randomly from one kilometre away? He was shot when the forces were moving back. The forces had come under attack and they were shooting indiscriminately,” said Zahoor Ahmed, Abid’s cousin.

While a probe has been ordered by the J&K state administration, Wiwiek’s future in Kashmir is filled with uncertainty and fear.

Speaking to The Kashmir Walla news website, she said: “Now I am feeling that Kashmir is not my home because the one I love has died”. She added that she would like to leave Kashmir for Indonesia as the place now holds nothing but bad memories for her. On their part, Abid’s family has left it to Wiwiek on whether she wants to observe Iddat and stay back or leave.

According to Iddat, Wiwiek is supposed to stay at her deceased husband’s home for a minimum of three months but due to the prevalent situation and the tragedy that has befallen the family, Abid’s brother said it was entirely up to Wiwiek to choose whether she wanted to stay or not.

In the same interview, she said she spoke to the Indonesian embassy and a relative confirmed the same. However, when Newslaundry got in touch with the embassy on Wednesday and Thursday, an official requesting that his name is withheld said Wiwiek had not contacted them.

“Neither the state government or the government of India has contacted us. We heard about the death in the news but the woman (Wiwiek) is yet to make any contact with us. If she decides to do so, we may or may not take steps to help her,” said the official on Thursday.

A questionnaire sent to the embassy is yet to be answered but the official who spoke to Newslaundry said: “Most of the diplomats here are with their families for Christmas holidays but as far as I know, no one has contacted us. We don’t even know which part of Indonesia she belongs or which part of Jammu and Kashmir she is staying in.”

The official further said that Wiwiek must have reported to the embassy when she came to India. “I don’t know if she has contacted the embassy yet,” the official said. Clearly, the embassy didn’t want to delve further on the subject.