SRINAGAR: Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was laid to rest with full state honours in his ancestral graveyard of Bijbehara town in Anantnag district.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds body was flown this afternoon from New Delhi to Srinagar in an IAF plane.
Accompanied by several Central Ministers, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, arrived at the New Delhi Airport and laid wreath on the mortal remains of the departed leader.
He met PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, who was by the side of her father for the last 14 days, and offered condolences.
There was an outpouring of grief across Jammu & Kashmir today with much of the state shutting down to mourn the late chief minister, whose funeral cavalcade snaked its way through surging crowds from his official residence at Gupkar to the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium where a huge gathering of people offered Nimaz-e-Jinaaza, led by Naeem Akhtar. A ceremonial Guard-of-Honour was also given as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
Besides, Governor, N. N. Vohra and Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, former Chief Ministers, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Omar Abdullah, senior political leaders across party lines and officers of the State government also attended the funeral of the Chief Minister.
The mortal remains of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed were later carried to his hometown of Bijbehera for burial.
Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had taken oath as Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir for a second term on March 01, 2015.
The state has declared seven-day mourning as a mark of respect to the departed leader. All State government offices and educational institutions in the State remained closed today. National & State Flags will be flown at half-mast during the period of mourning on all buildings and places where these are flown.
The mortal remains of Sayeed reached his official residence on Gupkar Road in Srinagar amidst sloganeering by supporters and workers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he founded in 1999.
Sayeed’s coffin, draped in the National Tricolour and Red-and-White flag of Jammu and Kashmir, was later taken from his official residence to the ancestral graveyard in Anantnag.
Close relatives and senior PDP leaders were among those who had a final glimpse of Sayeed’s body before it was given a customary ablution as per Islamic rites necessary before burial.
The ‘Namaaz-e-Janazah’ (funeral prayers) of the departed leader was offered in the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium at Sonawar here, in which thousands of the mourners took part.
PDP workers had assembled from the length and breadth of the Kashmir Valley to pay their last respect to the two-time Chief Minister.
Former chief ministers of the state – Omar Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad– were among those who attended the funeral prayers which were led by Sayeed’s trusted aide, Education Minister Naeem Akhtar.
Sayeed was given full state honours after the funeral prayers – a 21-gun salute – and a police band played the ceremonial Last Post for the deceased Chief Minister.
The coffin, in a decked up police vehicle, was later taken in the form of a procession of vehicles to the ancestral town of Bijbehara of the PDP founder.
Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sayeed’s son Mufti Tassaduq carried his coffin on their shoulders before it was laid to rest.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and state Governor N N Vohra were among those who visited the bereaved family at its Gupkar residence to offer condolences.
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