Protesters hoist Pak flag on Mufti’s ancestral house

Suhail A Shah

Bijbehara, November 24

Youth mourning the killing of three Hizbul Mujahideen militants hoisted a Pakistani flag on Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s ancestral house in Bijbehara town of Anantnag district today.

Hundreds of youth, women and children participated in the funeral procession of the slain militants, two of whom belonged to main Bijbehara town.

The militants were killed during a brief gunfight with security forces in the Siligam area of Anantnag district on Monday afternoon.

While the bodies of the two militants were being carried for the funeral prayers today, some of the agitated youth, part of the procession, hoisted a Pakistani flag on an old building of the house complex, in the Baba Mohalla locality of the town. The highly secured complex has two houses, a new and an old one. The flag was hoisted on the outer wall of the old house, used as a waiting hall for PDPworkers.

Mufti’s maternal uncle Mufti Muhammad Amin and his son Mufti Muhammad Sajad, PDP coordinator, at present live in the house. Sajad said: “None of us have ventured out of the house so we do not know about a flag being hoisted.”

Locals claimed that the flag was hoisted by the security personnel to garner sympathy and avoid any attack on the complex.

On Monday evening, when the bodies of the slain militants were brought to their homes, some people from the procession threw stones at the house complex.

Anantnag Senior Superintendent of Police Abdul Jabbar said the flag had been hoisted on an adjacent house and not on the CM’s house.