Separatist leader Ashraf Sehrai laid to rest at his ancestral village

Sehrai, who was arrested and booked under the Public Safety Act last year, died at a Jammu hospital on Wednesday while in custody.

Kupwara (Jammu Kashmir): Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai was on Thursday laid to rest at his ancestral village in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir as per COVID protocol, officials said here.

Sehrai, who was arrested and booked under the Public Safety Act last year, died at a Jammu hospital on Wednesday while in custody.

"Burial of separatist leader late Ashraf Shehrai completed as per Covid protocol in presence of family members at his native place," Jammu Kashmir Police said in a tweet.

Kashmir Police Tweets

The authorities anticipating large participation had put restrictions on the entry of outside people even disallowing the local residents from participating in the last rites of the departed leader on apprehensions of law and order situation coupled with the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

According to sources, the mortal remains of Sehraie reached his native village here in Tekipora Lolab at around 4:00 AM after being ferried back from Jammu on Wednesday evening.

Family sources told that limited people, mainly some close relatives, participated in the funeral prayers with adherence to all necessary protocols.

The septuagenarian was shifted from Udhampur jail to GMC hospital Jammu on Tuesday after complaining of chest pain and eventually succumbed a day later.

Sehrai is survived by his wife three sons and two daughters.

Sehrai was detained last year and booked under Public Safety Act. The 76-year-old was considered as a strong contender to take over as chief of the Hurriyat Conference after its former chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, in a letter, announced his dissociation from the amalgam.

Sehrai's demise while in preventive detention under the PSA led to widespread calls for the release of other political prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir who are held in various jails within and outside the Union Territory.

Meanwhile, official sources told that the restrictions will continue to remain in effect till further orders to avoid any law and order situation coupled with the COVID-19 situation.