Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, laid to rest in Mughal era park he developed

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When the body was lowered into the grave around 6.40 pm, many of them chanted, “Jab tak suraj chand rahega Mufti tera naam rahega.”

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Sayeed’s coffin, draped in the tricolour and red-and-white flag of JK, was later taken from his official residence to the ancestral graveyard in Anantnag. (Source: Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

People had initially assembled at Baba Mollah, Mufti’s house, then the crowd moved to Dara Shikoh garden, built in the Mughal era and developed by Mufti in his first term as CM. “The family decided to bury him in the park. It was dear to our leader, and now it has become his final resting place,’’ his nephew Sajjad Mufti said.

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The funeral was attended by most ministers and leaders of all mainstream parties. Officials and politicians laid wreaths, while around 4,000 PDP workers participated in the burial prayers led by Mufti’s relative Zai-ud-din Nazimi, a prominent cleric of South Kashmir. Abdul Rehman Veri, Horticulture Minister and Bijbehara MLA, oversaw the arrangements.

The tributes had begun in Delhi with Home Minister Rajnath Singh among the first to reach AIIMS. Members of Mufti’s family arrived at 10 am, followed by Vice President Hamid Ansari. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party leader Karan Singh, and Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung.

The ‘Namaaz-e-Janazah’ (funeral prayers) of the departed leader was offered in the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium at Sonawar in Srinagar, in which thousands of mourners took part. (Source: Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

A hospital hearse van carried the body to Palam airport at 11 am. Rajnath, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former chief minister Omar Abdullah too travelled to Srinagar, where the body was taken to Fairview, the CM’s official residence. Prayers led by Education Minister Nayeem Akthar were held at S K Stadium before the body was sent to his hometown Bijbehara, a 42 km road lined with security men.

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The grave is in a corner of a park covered with chinar trees. “Mufti wanted India and Pakistan to come closer and the people of Jammu and Kashmir to the reap the dividends of the peace,” said Kaloo Ji Nanda, an old associate.

The admirers had come from various places. “We are very unfortunate that Mufti Sayeed couldn’t complete his term. He had promised us South Kashmir would be developed,” said Ghulam Rasool, who had come from Ashjumji Kulgam. “He was not only a great leader of J&K but the lion of South Kashmir.”