Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, people held funeral prayers in absentia, Quran Khawani and special prayer sessions for the martyred senior APHC leader and the Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, on the second consecutive day, today, in different areas of the territory.
Despite curfew-like restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities to prevent demonstrations against the custodial death of Ashraf Sehrai, people offered funeral prayers in absentia, Quran Khawani and oganised Dua Majalis for the senior APHC leader in several parts of Srinagar, Awantipora, Baramulla and other areas.
The funeral prayers in absentia were organized by Jammu and Kashmir Tehreek-e-Muzahamat, Tehreek-e-Istiqlal, Jammu and Kashmir Political Resistance Movement, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Justice Party and other pro-freedom organisations.
The participants of the funerals raised high-pitched anti-India, pro-freedom and pro-Pakistan slogans.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has asked the people to continue holding funeral prayers in absentia and special prayer sessions for the martyred leader.
Mujahid Ashraf, son of Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, in a media interview, has revealed that during his last phone conversation with his father, he said to him that the authorities have brought him to Udhampur jail to kill him and so don’t make efforts for his release and continue your normal activities.
Mujahid Ashraf said that he didn’t expect justice from the Indian government, which was responsible for his father’s death as it kept a 78-year-old ailing man in custody without providing him basic amenities including medical treatment.
Meanwhile, senior APHC leader and the President of Jammu and Kashmir Anjuman Sharie Shian, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi, in a statement paying rich tribute to Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai said that he was an ideologue of the ongoing freedom movement.
The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League, Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami and Employees Joint Action Committee in their meetings and Hurriyat leaders, Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Javaid Ahmed Mir and Muhammad Shafi Lone, in a statement in Srinagar also paid homage to Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai.
APHC in a statement issued in Srinagar strongly condemned thee raids on the residences of its leaders, Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar, Molvi Bashir Ahmed and Khawaja Firdous, and harassment of their family members by Indian police. It termed the police action as the worst display of state terrorism.
Political analysts and commentators during their interviews with the Kashmir Media Service said the custodial death of Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai has further elevated his stature among the Kashmiris.—KMS