Killed in Poonch shelling, Qari Iqbal was branded a terrorist. Four months on, his family continues the legal struggle to reclaim dignity

IN THE EARLY HOURS OF MAY 7, 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor on Pakistan in retaliation to a brutal attack by militants on tourists in the Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam on April 22.  In response, over the night of May 6 and 7, India’s border regions came under the target of ceaseless shelling from Pakistan, with Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district at the forefront of the attacks. The shelling lasted four days, killing thirteen residents of Poonch and forcing more than 80 percent of the population to migrate to safer areas. 

Qari Muhammad Iqbal, 47 in May this year, was one of the thirteen residents who lost their lives in the conflict. Iqbal was a Quran teacher at the Zia-ul-Uloom Madrasa in Poonch city. On May 7, Iqbal’s younger brother, Qari Farooq Ahmed, asked him to return to the family’s native village in Mandli’s Baila, but around 6:30 PM that day, shelling from Pakistan took the Poonch district by terror. “Iqbal bhai said that it wasn’t safe to travel and stayed back. I even asked him to go to Seri Khwaja, where I teach at a Madrasa but he refused,” Ahmed told The Leaflet.  

Around 7 PM, Iqbal went to the Zia-ul-Uloom madrasa in Poonch city. Shortly afterwards, the building came under attack — shelling hit the outer premises of the madrasa. Iqbal and four students of the madrasa were caught in the destruction as flying pieces critically injured them. He was taken to the District Hospital Poonch. By around 8 PM, Iqbal had lost his life. 

Pradeep Sharma, a former BJP MLA from Poonch was present beside Iqbal’s bed at the time of his death. His funeral was held at half an hour past midnight on May 8. 

“The next morning, we started getting calls from relatives and friends about several news channels branding him a terrorist, a member of the Laskar-e-Taiba’s camp based in Azad Kashmir’s Kotli.” Ahmed recalled, “Our mourning was shadowed by the ghastly rumours running around about our beloved brother.” 

Three major newshouses were clearly at the forefront: News 18, ZeeNews and Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV. While News18 associated him with Lashkar-e-Taiba, ZeeNews stated that Iqbal was a militant associated with the Pakistan-based militant organisation Hizbul-Mujahideen . “Mitti mein mil gaya most wanted athankwadi Qari Mohd Iqbal” — The most wanted terrorist Qari Mohd Iqbal has been buried in the dust — one headline ran. “Ghaati mein dhoond rahi thi agencies…Bharat ki air strike mein hua dher” — Agencies were searching for him in the valley… He was taken down in India’s air strike  — read another.