Kashmiri woman stranded in Rajasthan

Jaipur, March 30 IANS) A 45-year-old woman from Jammu and Kashmir has been left stranded in Rajasthan after her mentally challenged son went missing during a visit to the world-famous dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.

The woman, Naseema Khan, a resident of Pulwama district in south Kashmir, has been looking for her son, Saleem, for the past 20 days and is trying to survive by getting odd house-keeping jobs.

Naseema had initially come to Nagaur town, some 280 km from here, to attend to her ailing husband, Mahmood Khan. "He left home last year to look for work and had come to Nagaur. He suffered a paralytic stroke in February which rendered him completely bed-ridden," Naseema told IANS.

When Naseema came to know about her husband's condition, she rushed to Nagaur along with her 15-year-old son Saleem. "Saleem is mentally challenged. I had heard that offering prayers at the Ajmer Dargah could help him. Besides, I wanted to pray for my husband also. So I went to Ajmer March 21. While visiting the Dargah, I lost sight of my son. He went missing. I frantically tried to find him, but all my efforts were in vain," said Naseema.

After spending a few days in Ajmer searching fruitlessly for her son, she returned to Nagaur as she had to attend to her husband. She took up house-keeping jobs in the locality where her husband lives as a tenant.

"Whenever I get time, I go to the nearby railway stations hoping to spot my son somewhere. I approached the police too, but that did not help. I don't know what to do in this unfamiliar place. I am feeling completely helpless," said Naseema.