Abdul Salaam Dar the greatest fishing of his life. From Lelhar Kakapora, a village across the river Jhelum Kashmir69-year-old Dar sells his catch to local markets.
He is also a fisherman of the people. In the past 30 years, he has rescued 100 people and pulled 47 corpses from rivers in the valley.
“I remember everyone who was rescued, and every corpse carved out. I don’t remember the number, nor the face. Many of them fell into the river, but most of them tried to die,” says Dardanius.
Before he came on the job of rescuing people and fishing bodies, Dar says he used to be called to recover tools, motors, boats and other things that were lost in the river. Then one day he saw a man drowning.
“He didn’t have a big influence in my life. Everyone but him. He was looking for help but finally he drowned before my eyes” he recalls.
Generally speaking Dungal (“Diver”), Dardanius is worshiped in the region. Whenever rescue teams find it difficult to locate a dead body, they call Dar.
Dar returned the bodies to Sangam, Anantnag, Bijbehara, Pampore, Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir. He mentions one incident in Aharbale when the police did not recover the body of a drowned woman.
“A cop called me a ‘weak old man’ and said I couldn’t do anything. I finally got convinced and I’ll do it,” he said.
Dardanius insists on the need to rescue men and women differently. When rescuing or retrieving a man’s body, he holds it firmly against his chest, but when it is a woman, he gently holds the strands of hair, observing the space between himself and the woman’s body.
Unlike most lifeguards who take measurements before diving into the water, Dardanio has been known to carry out his work without any safety equipment. It is a unique way of working in water.
Once I am in deep water, by the will of Allah my works spread well. Just use a rope and a long wooden stick. It feels good after saving a life or helping a family to recover the body of their loved one,” he said.
On several occasions, Dar Yammu and other distant parts of the country were called for help. Once, Dar recalls, the body of a girl who had drowned in Sopore could not be located for eight days. It was Dar who found her forty miles away in Uri, near the Pakistani border.
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Dardanius also mentions the incident with the drowning of the three boys. Local police and rescuers were struggling to locate the bodies, so the navy was called in. At last Dar was called.
“I got two bodies in just 10 minutes,” he said, adding that the police had asked him to direct them so they could exhume the rest of the body lest people think they were incompetent. I directed them, and another body was drawn, he recalls.
By Kashmir’s worst floods in 2014Dardanio was the first man to rescue people across Kashmir and says he has rescued more than 100.
Many people, as well as the government, tried to reward him for his work, but not surprisingly. Once, after rescuing someone, his family offered him 6,000 rupees (about £60), which he returned.
“Every time I rescue a body or fish it out, people offer me money or the police give me rewards, ‘you deserve it’. But I have to accept this as selling the souls of corpses and I can’t do it,” said Dar.
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