Defying curfew thousands offered funeral prayers in absentia for teenage Hizb commander Burhan Wani and his two associates in Tral town of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.Burhan Muzaffar Wani and his two associates Parvez Ahmed and SartaJ Ahme was killed in an encounter with forces on July 8 this month in Bimbdora Kokarnag village of Islamabad district.The call for holding funeral prayers was forwarded by united Hurriyat leadership- Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik.Reports said that administration had imposed curfew in the district, however locals told CNS that people defied curfew and arrived at Eidgah Tral in large numbers.“Thousands assembled at Eidgah Tral and offered funeral prayers in absentia for Burhan Muzzafar Wani,” reports said.
The Eidgah was reverberated with pro-freedom slogans. Several separatist leaders and civil society members including Abdul Samad Inqalabi, Advocate GN Shaheen, Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, Mujahid Shabir Ahmed Falahi and others addressed the mourners. In his audio recording message Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Geelani while paying tributes to “martyrs of Kashmir” asked family members of Burhan to “maintain calm and bear patience”. “22 year old Commander Burhan has achieved martyrdom at such a tender age which shows his commitment and honesty with the cause,” Geelani said in his message. Sources added that the posters purportedly issued by militant outfit Hizbul Mujhadeen were read out at different mosques of the Tral town asking people to continue to protest against ‘Indian occupation’. Eyewitnesses told CNS that large number of protesters attacked the house of PDP incumbent legislator Mushtaq Ahmed Shah and smashed the windowpanes of his house. Reports said that there was nobody present in the house when the mob attacked the house.
Meanwhile, funeral prayers in absentia was also offered in Dadasara Tral. (CNS)