Amir is the third civilian killed in security forces firing at protesters in the last three weeks.
Barely out of a storm of unrest and wounded by terrorist attacks in alarming frequency, solemn pictures of Halima offering milk to her dead son have gone viral in Jammu and Kashmir, stoking fears that the fragile peace in the state might once again be at risk soon.
Days after 15-year-old Amir was killed in Pulwama in south Kashmir, the family is still trying to come to terms with the loss.
Halima is asking everybody why her son was killed. Her husband Nazir Ahmad Dar, a daily wage labourer, said his son asked for Rs 1,500 on Thursday last to pay his school fees and had left home for school. Hours later they received his body.
"He was a young boy who wanted to live and see the world like any other child. I'm shattered. He was just a Class 9 student," said Mr Dar.
Amir is the third civilian killed in security forces firing at protesters near encounter sites in the last three weeks.
"He was hit by bullets in his neck. For last five days, he had started going back to school (which had been closed for eight months following the unrest over terrorist Burhan Wani's killing and the winter break). Why did we have to see this tragedy," Mr Dar said.
Police say Amir was hit by a stray bullet during clashes near an encounter site after protesting villagers tried to break the security cordon. Two local terrorists were killed in the encounter that lasted 10 hours.
Police say Amir was part of the crowd and during the encounter terrorists also fired from the crowd in which two policemen were injured.