Kashmir

Muslims once again set example of brotherhood, perform last rites of Kashmiri Pandit in Pulwama

PULWAMA — The Muslims in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district once again set an example of communal harmony and brotherhood by helping in performing the last rites of a 70-year-old Kashmiri Pandit in Batapora Wahibugh village of the district.

Parry Lal Pandit, a resident of Wahibugh Pulwama died on Tuesday.

Pandit was a known figure in the area. He used to help persons in need. As only a few of his family members were around, his local friends and neighbours from the Muslim community took it upon themselves to help perform his last rites, news agency KNO quoted locals as having said.

Javaid Ahmad, a local resident as per KNO said, the local Muslims organised and performed his last rites and mourned his death as one of their own. They shouldered his coffin and arranged wood for the cremation in the village.

He was one of us. We never thought of him as a KP. He has been living here among us for many years. We have lived alongside each other and done everything together, Mohammad Ramzan, a middle-aged man from the locality said as per KNO.

He said, we arranged everything needed for the cremation, adding that people from other adjacent areas also visited the residence to sympathise with the bereaved family members.

Pandit’s relatives also said that Muslims of the village always help them in times of need and they don’t intervene in the religious affairs. They (Muslims) sit at a distance when a ritual has to be done by a Pandit, but the rest of the arrangements were arranged by them, they said.