Anantnag, Oct 25: For nearly 18 months, Sajad Ahmad Bhat has waited for news of his missing 76-year-old father.
Now, a fellow Kashmiri pilgrim’s reported sighting of Mohammad Akbar Bhat in Makkah has rekindled the family’s hope of finding him and renewed its appeal for urgent government intervention.
Bhat, a resident of Nathipora village in Dooru, Anantnag district, travelled to Saudi Arabia for Umrah on April 9, 2025.
According to his son, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, 47, he disappeared after staying back at the hotel while his wife and other members of their group went to the Kaaba to perform rituals.
“My mother and the others in the group, accompanied by the local travel agent, Muzaffar Ahmad, left the hotel for the Kaaba. My father stayed back. When they returned in the evening, he was not there,” Sajad said.
The family and other pilgrims initially thought Bhat might have gone out on his own and would return soon.
But he did not come back. He was not carrying a mobile phone, making it difficult to contact him.
Sajad said the group informed the travel agent and searched for his father, but could not trace him.
His mother, the travel agent and other group members also approached the police in Saudi Arabia and filed a missing-person report, but he remained untraceable.
“My father did not return even after the Umrah period ended. We went everywhere seeking help, but to no avail,” Sajad said.
The group, including Bhat’s wife, eventually returned to Kashmir with the travel agent, but Bhat remained missing.
A possible lead emerged in September 2026, when a pilgrim from Kokernag reportedly recognised Bhat in Makkah.
According to Sajad, the pilgrim, whose daughter is married in their native village, spotted his father at the Kaaba but could not reach him before he disappeared into the crowd.
“We even showed him his photograph, and he recognised him and confirmed that he had seen him,” Sajad said.
The pilgrim, however, declined to comment when contacted. The reported sighting could not be independently verified.
Bhat’s family is urging the Jammu and Kashmir administration and the central government to take up the matter with Saudi authorities, investigate the possible sighting and intensify efforts to locate him.
The family said Bhat had travelled through a private travel operator in Anantnag.
However, Hilal Ahmad, director of Deedar-e-Kaaba Travel Agency, clarified that the booking had not been made through his agency.
Ahmad said Bhat and his wife had booked their journey through Dooru-based World Wise Travel Agency, managed by Muzaffar Ahmad, who accompanied the group to Saudi Arabia.
“Muzaffar contacted us for four slots and handed over their passports, including those of Bhat and his wife. We only facilitated their visas,” Hilal said.
He said efforts to trace Bhat had included checking local mortuaries and approaching Saudi authorities, but had yielded no confirmed information.
“We have made every possible effort over the last year to trace his whereabouts, including checking local mortuaries, but to no avail,” he said.
Attempts to contact Muzaffar Ahmad were unsuccessful as he was in Saudi Arabia with another group of pilgrims.
According to records provided, a missing-person report was registered in Saudi Arabia on November 2, 2025, under FIR No. 5865524.
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the Saudi Embassy were also approached for assistance.
After returning to Kashmir, the family even filed a missing report at the SSP office in Anantnag and approached the deputy commissioner, where a formal case file was initiated.
The family has also approached the Jammu and Kashmir Grievance Cell.
Hilal Ahmad said efforts to locate Bhat were continuing, with pilgrims from Kashmir travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah being asked to help trace him.
With no confirmed information about Bhat’s whereabouts, his family urges authorities to follow up on the reported sighting and coordinate with Saudi officials to establish what happened to him and bring him home safely.
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