SRINAGAR: Though slain Hizb rebel Sabzar Ahmad Bhat is being laid to rest on Sunday, hundreds of people have offered funeral prayers to him in absentia. One such funeral prayer took place in Srinagar main city at Nowhatta, reports said.
Reports reaching from Tral said Bhat is being laid at rest on Sunday. His younger colleague Faizan Muzaffar who was also killed in the encounter, however, has been laid to rest, media reports suggest.
However, hundreds of people, mostly youth joined in Nowhatta and led the funeral prayers. Most of them had their faces hooded. These included some minors as well.
After the prayers were over, they clashed with the police. Various youth and cops were reported to have injured in these clashes.
There were reports of similar prayers in absentia in various peripheral districts across Kashmir. These prayers started well before police returned the body of the rebel to the family.
Reports from Tral suggest that hoards of people have started reaching Bhat’s village for attending in his funeral prayers. The area has pitched a tent under which his body has been kept.
At scores of places, the angry youth clashed with the police and CRPF. At least one person was killed – at the encounter site, and more than 80 people were injured in these clashes across Kashmir.
