SRINAGAR – In occupied Kashmir, thousands of people participated in funeralprayers of cricket star Shahid Ashraf Dar who was martyred in firing byIndian troops on protesters at Drubgam in Pulwama, yesterday.

Shahid Ashraf Dar was famous as a brilliant cricketer who led his team tovictories in several tournaments. People attended his funeral and raisedpro-freedom and anti-India slogans, while his mother kept on wailing.

Thousands of mourners squeezed into the courtyard of the Jamia Masjid atArihal village of Pulwama where the funeral prayers were offered. The rushof people was such that the body had to be taken to the roof of the mosque.

Emotional scenes were witnessed and about a dozen including women, faintedwhen Shahid’s body was taken for burial. Several pro-freedom leaders andreligious figures addressed the huge gathering in the village. Shahid wasburied at after five rounds of funeral prayers were offered for him.

Shahid, according to close relatives, left home in the morning aftertelling his parents that he had to go to Pulwama for some work. “Severalboys from the village went to Drubgam but Shahid came back as a martyr,”Bashir Ahmad, a resident of Arihal, said.

Maternal uncle of Shahid, Muzaffar Ahmad Bhat, told media that Shahid wasthe brother of two elder, unmarried sisters.

A neighbour said that Shahid was arrested by police last winter and was indetention for about a month. He said that Shahid had been arrested bypolice a dozen times since the killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016.

Eyewitnesses said that the troops targeted him and shot him thrice, and hehad three bullet marks on his abdomen.