Sehrai buried in ancestral village; kin say cops did not allow burial in Srinagar

Srinagar: Prominent separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai was buried in a discreet ceremony at his ancestral village in Kupwara with family members saying that the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police did not allow the burial at Srinagar’s martyrs’ cemetery.

The separatist leader, who was in jail, breathed his last in a hospital in Jammu on Wednesday afternoon. He lived in Srinagar for over three decades. Amid a huge contingent of security forces, only Sehrai’s family members were allowed to attend the ceremony — held in Tekipora village.

Quoting Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar, J&K Police tweeted: “Burial of separatist leader later Ashraf Sehrai completed as per Covid protocol in presence of family members at his native place.”

Sehrai’s family said they wanted to bury him in martyrs graveyard but police did not allow them. “They even warned that if we resist, they will take the body and bury it at Machil (on the Line of Control),” said a family member. (The Indian Express)