A pall of gloom descended on Srinagar this evening when Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq’s uncle Maulvi Mushtaq Ahmed, shot by militants while praying inside a Srinagar mosque on May 29, died of injuries.A retired official of the Jammu and Kashmir government, Mushtaq is the second member of the Mirwaiz family to be killed by militants. In May 1990, Maulvi Mohammad Farooq, father of Umer Farooq, was shot dead.The day they attacked Mushtaq, militants had also targeted the residence of the Mirwaiz. The attacks triggered massive demonstrations in the city.An organisation called the Save Kashmir Movement claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was a ‘‘warning for all those who had entered into a dialogue with leaders involved in the Gujarat riots.’’Hurriyat Conference chairman Abbas Ansari, while describing the attacks as an attempt to derail peace talks with the Centre, maintained that dialogue with Delhi would continue.Officials said that 60-year-old Mushtaq’s condition deteriorated today though doctors tried all they could to save his life.His body was being taken to Mirwaiz Manzil, headquarters of the Awami Action Committee at Rajouri Kadal, and the burial would take place tomorrow.It was not yet clear where he would be be laid to rest. While family members favoured his burial at an ancestral graveyard, Awami Action Committee leaders were suggesting the Martyrs’ graveyard at the Idgah grounds.In fact, hours before Mushtaq’s death, tension gripped parts of Srinagar after rumours spread that he had died of injuries.Awami Action Committee supporters took to the streets in protest, forcing shopkeepers to down shutters. In most parts of downtown Srinagar, shops and business establishments remained closed. Public and private transport also stayed off the roads in interior localities.
