Srinagar: The authorities allegedly imposed curbs on some political leaders in the valley by placing them under house arrest on Thursday (September 18) following the demise of senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat in north Kashmir.

Bhat, a stalwart of separatist politics and former chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, passed away at the age of 94 years on Wednesday at his residence in the Botingo village of north Kashmir's Sopore after a prolonged illness.

He was buried hours later in his ancestral graveyard allegedly against the wishes of his family, which had planned to hold his last rites on Thursday.

“The funeral prayers were scheduled at 10 am today so that his friends, admirers and well-wishers could get a last glimpse. However, we were told by officials last night to bury him immediately. We couldn’t do much but follow the order,” a family source said, adding that they were not served any written order about the restrictions.

Bhat is survived by his wife and three sons, two of whom are married. Witnesses said that around 1,300-1,500 people participated in the funeral prayers that were held at 11:30 pm.

The Hurriyat leader’s family alleged that security forces sealed the village after his demise in order to prevent mourners from participating in the last rites.

Sopore senior superintendent of police Iftkhar Talib, however, denied the allegation. “There were no restrictions,” he told The Wire. He also denied the family’s claim that they were forced by the authorities to bury the Hurriyat leader in a huff against their wishes.

Bhat had a postgraduate degree in Persian and a bachelor's degree in law from the Aligarh Muslim University. He was co-founder of the Muslim United Front (MUF), which contested the controversial 1987 assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir that is widely believed to have lit the spark for the eruption of the armed insurgency in Kashmir in the early 1990s.

A stalwart of Kashmir's separatist politics and an advocate of dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, Bhat was also president of the Muslim Conference, which was affiliated with the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference. The outfit was banned following the reading down of Article 370 in 2019.

The former Hurriyat chief was among a slew of separatist leaders who participated in Track-II dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad on the Kashmir issue when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power in the early 2000s.

His health is believed to have started deteriorating in 2020, after which he faded out of public life. A family member said that Bhat developed a kidney ailment in December last year, from which he couldn’t recover.

“He had a cob of corn last evening after which he asked for pomegranate. Before it could be served, he passed away,” the family member told The Wire.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, People's Democratic Party chairperson Mehbooba Mufti, the valley’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Peoples' Conference chief Sajad Lone and Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari among others condoled his demise.

Describing Bhat as a “senior Kashmiri political leader”, Abdullah said that he had the “courage to espouse the cause of dialogue when many believed violence was the only way forward and this resulted in him meeting the then-PM [prime minister Atal Bihari] Vajpayee ji & Deputy PM [L.K.] Advani ji”.

“Our political ideologies were poles apart but I will always remember him as a very civil person. May Professor Bhat sb find place in Jannat. My condolences to his family & loved ones,” Abdullah said in a post on X.

Mufti and Mirwaiz among other political leaders alleged that they were put under house arrest by the authorities to prevent them from visiting Sopore and expressing their condolences to Bhat’s family.

Speaking with The Wire, Mirwaiz said that he tried to visit the residence of “my friend and guide” last night after learning about his passing.

The moderate Hurriyat chief was also part of the Track-II diplomacy under the NDA government that had sparked hopes of a resolution of the Kashmir issue.

“I have been locked inside my home and been denied the right to walk with him on his final journey. My association with him spanned 35 years of friendship and guidance. So many others, too, longed to pay their last respects. To be deprived of even the solace of participating in his janazah and bid him a final goodbye is an unbearable cruelty,” he said in a post on X on Wednesday evening.

The PDP chief, who was also allegedly put under house arrest in Srinagar and stopped from visiting Bhat’s residence on Thursday, targeted the BJP-led Union government over the issue, saying the detentions “lay bare the harsh and undemocratic reality in Jammu and Kashmir”.

“What unfolded at Hazratbal Dargah the eruption of spontaneous, raw public anger was not just an isolated incident. It was a loud, unmistakable message from a people pushed to the edge. The BJP however remains wilfully blind to this truth. Refusing to learn anything from the deep anguish and suppressed emotions that have been building for years now,” she said in a post on X.

A group of male and female worshippers vandalised the national emblem that was engraved on a foundation stone installed by the BJP-led Waqf board at the Hazratbal shrine in the capital Srinagar on September 5, following which the Jammu and Kashmir police filed a case and some 30 persons were detained.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the BJP has no interest in peace or healing in Kashmir. Instead, they seem determined to keep the region in a constant state of turmoil weaponising pain and unrest for political mileage across the rest of the country. This cynical approach is not just irresponsible. It is dangerous and utterly reprehensible,” Mufti said.

Peoples' Conference chairman Sajad Lone also said that he was put under house arrest. “I fail to understand what is the need for this. Professor sahib was a pacifist and literally long retired. A final good bye is something which we all deserved,” he said on X.

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