Death of love story in Pulwama

Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, December 16

A young Abid Hussain, a Kashmiri working in Hyderabad, and Wiwiak, an Indonesian citizen, first met when the latter arrived in the city for a three-month training workshop. Despite coming from different cultures and the language barrier, they fell in love almost instantly. 

When the workshop ended, Wiwiak returned home. Hussain soon followed her. “He met my mother and told her: ‘I love your daughter. That is why I have come all the way to marry her.’ Moved, she gave her consent,” recalled a grieving Wiwiak, her infant daughter in arms. “He was a good man, considerate towards all,” she kept repeating, struggling to come to terms with the reality of his sudden demise.

Hussain was among the seven civilians killed in firing at the Pulwama encounter site on Saturday. He sustained two bullet injuries, one in the neck and another in the mouth, said his uncle Ghulam Rasool Pandit. 

Hussain and Wiwiak were married in 2016. When Wiwiak was pregnant, Hussain decided to return to Karimabad, a village on the banks of a stream, with his wife. Once home, he started looking after the family orchard while Wiwiak began a new chapter, acquiring a new identity. 

“My Indonesian name is difficult to pronounce. So family members started calling me Saima and I came to be known as Saima,” she said. The couple were planning to return to Indonesia with their three-month-old child when the tragedy struck. 

“He was in the market for some purchases when he heard the sound of gunfire. I implored him not to go in the direction it was coming from, but he insisted he would go with his cousin and return shortly. Worried, I kept calling him persistently. Finally, somebody picked up his phone and told me Hussain had been shot. My whole world came crashing down,” said an inconsolable Wiwiak.