Hurriyat leaders defy house arrest orders

Senior Hurriyat leaders defied house arrest orders and led processions towards the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for performing the last rites of Shiekh Abdul Aziz.

Senior Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Tuesday defied house arrest orders and led processions towards the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for performing the last rites of senior leader Shiekh Abdul Aziz who was killed on Monday's police firing.

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Thousands of people gathered outside the residences of the separatist leaders who were under house arrest, official sources said.

Geelani led a procession from his residence at Hyderpora to the Jamia Masjid in the interior city where Aziz's body was kept. Mirwaiz, who was under house arrest since Sunday evening, also led a similar procession, they said.

Shia leader Aga Syed Hassan led the biggest procession from his Budgam district headquarters. About 20,000 of his supporters marched towards the interior city to take part in the funeral procession.

Smaller groups of people from Bijbehara, Pulwama and Ganderbal also headed towards the city.

Aziz was killed in police firing at Chahal Village in Baramulla district as he was leading a huge march to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) to protest the "economic blockade" of the valley enforced by the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti in Jammu.

Meanwhile, the body of the slain Hurriyat leader was being taken to Edigah Martyrs' graveyard for burial. JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadees president Moulvi Showkat Ahmad were among thousands of people accompanying the procession.

The body of a youth killed in Rainawani, Owais majid, was also being taken to the graveyard for burial alongside Aziz.