KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
In yet another case of brotherhood and communal harmony in Kashmir, last rites of a Pandit were done by his Muslim neighbours.
Dhanraj Malhotra of Old Srinagar, who stayed back when most of the Pandit families fled Valley in early 1990s, died on last Saturday.
Dhanraj Malhotra of Maharaj Gunj Srinagar was living with his only son Bharat Malhotra. Dhanraj was not keeping well for some time.
“It was our moral duty to arrange things for the last rites of our neighbours,” said Manzoor Ahmad Sofi, a local resident. “We were equally saddened to lose an elderly person in our neighbourhood.”
Deepak Malhotra, who is nephew of the deceased, lives in the upper house of the house where Dhanraj lived. “My father, Tilak Raj Malhotra, was assassinated by unknown gunmen on 13 March 1993, but we preferred not to leave the valley,” he said.
“Being neighbours, we are bound to do whatever is possible,: Bashir Ahmad, another local said, “they preferred to stay back when everyone from their community fled. SO it is prime responsibility to take care of the family.”
Riyaz Ahmad Bandari and Yasir Jeelani were among the youth who carried the bier to the cremation ground and also arranged the wood for his pyre.
(Reportage shared by Bilal Bashir Bhat)
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