Srinagar
Amid wails and cries, thousands of people, men, and women, on Sunday took part in the funeral prayers of a professor-turned-militant Dr Mohammad Rafi Bhat, in Chanduna area of Sherpathri in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district
KL Image
Dr Rafi was killed in an encounter at Badipora village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Despite the ban on internet and amid restrictions, several thousand people poured onto streets as the body of slain militant, were lifted the scenes were poignant amid the chanting of pro-freedom slogans, hailing the “martyr.”
Dr Rafi’s relatives, who were waiting for his body to arrive, were holding a pot full of candies in their hands. Women showered the bodies with candies.
Woman sang eulogies “tera bayee, mera bayee, Rafi bayee Rafi bayee, wala myani shahedo, bochh ma lajee (come my martyr, you might be hungry).
Scores of men and women wept bitterly as the body was being carried towards its final resting place.
Pro-freedom and pro-Islam slogans were raised by the mourners as the body was marched towards the local graveyard.
Bhat, who went missing on Friday, was killed along with four other militants of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, including top commander Saddam Padder, in a gunfight with forces in Badigam village of Shopian district.
Five civilians were killed after forces fired into the protesters.
