Burhan’s father attends Bhat funeral Lone militant shows up at chief’s burial
LAST JOURNEY Muzaffar Wani defies curfew to attend slain militant’s funeral in Pulwama; govt restricts movement to prevent repeat of violence that rocked Valley after Wani’s death
Mujahideen militant Sabzar Ahmad Bhat was buried at his village in Pulwama on Sunday morning, a day after the 27-year-old was killed in a gun fight with security forces in south Kashmir.
His death is seen as a big breakthrough for security forces. Bhat was the local chief of the homegrown militant organisation and is believed to have succeeded Burhan Wani. Wani’s encounter death in July 2016 set off violent street protests in the Kashmir Valley that left at least 100 people, most of them civilians, dead.
Wani’s father Muzaffar Wani was among the thousands of mourners, including sloganshouting women, who defied curfew to attend the funeral in Ratsun village. Both Bhat and Wani came from Tral and were close. They were among a group of young, tech-savvy militants who used social media to reach out to people, especially the young.
The gathering was not as big as the one for Wani’s funeral. The government restricted movement of people and clamped down on mobile internet services to prevent a repeat of violence that rocked Kashmir after Wani’s death.
According to reports, a large number of people reached Ratsun on Saturday but the family scheduled the burial for Sunday. Eyewitnesses said many militants were there but only a few of them turned up for the funeral.
PEOPLE SAID THE MILITANT MANAGED TO ESCAPE FROM THE ENCOUNTER SITE ON SATURDAY IN WHICH BHAT AND ANOTHER MILITANT WERE KILLED
Curfew is on in some parts of Srinagar and four districts in south Kashmir, the hotbed of insurgency. The restriction will remain in place till further orders. Bhat was killed after an overnight gunfight that broke out Friday evening when security forces were tipped off about the presence of militants in a residential area in Saimoh village in Tral.
They laid siege to the area and two militants, including Bhat, were killed. Bhat was a stonethrower before joining Hizbul in 2015.
An unknown ‘militant’ showed up in the local graveyard of Ratsuna in south Kashmir’s Tral during the burial of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Sabzar Ahmad Bhat on Sunday morning.
He did not have a gun but appeared to carry a grenade in a pouch. His appearance triggered commotion among the mourners in and outside the graveyard.
Locals said he escaped from the encounter on Saturday in which 29-year-old Sabzar and another teenaged militant Faizaan were killed. HT could not independently verify the claims of the locals.
People jostled to touch him and made way for him to reach the grave which was being dug for the slain militant.
Dressed in black, tears rolled down his face as people swarmed around him to touch his face and beard. Some even kissed him and at one moment people carried him on their shoulders.
Just when he reached the grave, he shouted loudly: Hum Kya Chahte (What do we want) and people responded with ‘Azadi’ in unison.
No one seemed sure about his name, though. ‘Adil’, ‘Shakir’ and ‘Azaan’ were the names bandied about. Eyewitnesses said that the militant had also addressed people on Saturday when they had gathered around Sabzar’s body. “We will take revenge,” he reportedly told the gathering.
Deputy inspector general of police, South Kashmir SP Pani and superintendent of police (SP) Awantipora (Tral) Mohammad Zaid were not available for comment.
The funeral prayer of Sabzar was scheduled at 11 am but was offered in an orchard near his home at Ratsuna at 9 am and then taken to the Martyrs’ Graveyard for burial.People continued coming till noon and funeral prayers in absentia were offered multiple times.