OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: Thousands of Indian security forces maintained a lockdown across Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on Friday after the death of a political leader Syed Ali Geelani sparked clashes with protesters.
The death heightened tensions in the disputed Himalayan territory after authorities refused to let him have a public funeral.
An internet and mobile phone shutdown ordered after the icon died late Wednesday continued for the second day.
Security forces were deployed around major mosques that remained closed, but special prayers for Geelani were held in a few smaller sites across the Muslim majority region.
Thousands of police and troops patrolled the streets to keep people indoors following clashes between residents and government forces in the main city of occupied Srinagar late Thursday.
Kashmiri resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani passes away
But dozens of citizens, angry at the refusal to let them pay a public tribute to Geelani, clashed with government forces for the second day, hurling stones at paramilitaries who chased them with batons.
Geelani’s son accused police of taking his father’s body away to be buried in the middle of the night, hours after his death.
The family said no relatives were allowed at the burial but police rejected the allegations as “false propaganda”.
A video widely shared on social media showed officers in a scuffle with Geelani’s relatives before taking away his body that was wrapped in a Pakistani flag.
Geelani, who had spent much of the past five decades in jail or under house arrest, had infuriated successive Indian governments with his pro-Pakistan stance and demands for a self-determination vote.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.