RAWALAKOT: Thousands of people poured in this picturesque mountain town in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday to pay their respects to veteran Kashmiri leader Sardar Khalid Ibrahim at his funeral.

Moving scenes were witnessed when his coffin, draped with an AJK flag, was brought to Sabir Shaheed Stadium in an ambulance from his residence in the town, where almost all shops were closed to mourn the death.

As the stadium ground was fully packed, many mourners were standing on its stairs as well as atop surrounding buildings.

Residents said it was indeed the biggest funeral gathering in the town in many decades, even bigger than that of his father, Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, at whose residence in Srinagar a resolution for accession of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir with the would-be-dominion of Pakistan was passed on July 19, 1947, and who became AJK’s founding president on October 24, 1947.

However, Ibrahim had not held any official position in his political career, spanning almost four decades, except for being a five-time MLA.

The mourners on Monday included activists and leaders of political and religious parties, legislators, civil and military officials, legal fraternity members, academics, students and ordinary people.

Prominent among them were AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir, Minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, former AJK premiers Chaudhry Abdul Majeed and Barrister Sultan Mahmood, PPP regional president Chaudhry Latif Akbar, former Jamaat-e-Islami AJK ameer Abdul Rashid Turabi, former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister Yousaf Ayub Khan and AJK High Court Chief Justice M. Tabassum Aftab Alvi.

Many of the mourners, young and old alike, were seen consoling each other with tearful eyes.

“Though he never remained president or prime minister, yet he ruled the hearts of people and this huge funeral is proof,” remarked Khawaja Kashif Mir, a resident of Rawalakot.

Raja Shujaat of Bagh district pointed out that the late leader had led a clean and simple life, without even an iota of pomp and show. “No temptations could ever change his stance and style,” he said.

The funeral prayers were led by Maulana Saeed Yousuf, a senior Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam AJK chapter leader from the neighbouring Sudhnoti district, at about 2pm.

In a departure from a common tradition, no speeches were delivered at the conclusion of funeral prayers and the coffin was taken to the ancestral burial site on the outskirts of Rawalakot after an hour.

In Kot Mattay Khan village, he was laid to rest next to the grave of his father.

The AJK government had announced a closed holiday on Monday to mourn the death of Ibrahim, who had returned in the 2016 polls as an ally of the PML-N but switched over to opposition benches due to some differences with the ruling party over elections against reserved seats as well as the office of the AJK president.

Ibrahim was hopeful that the PML-N would consider him for the presidential slot but felt betrayed when Sardar Masood’s name was put forward for this office.

A visibly disturbed Masood Khan, who is the son of Ibrahim’s first cousin, told reporters at the funeral that the death was a great loss not only for his family, the Sudhan tribe, but also all Kashmiris on either side of the divide, as he was a staunch supporter of the Himalayan region’s access to Pakistan.

“In his death we have lost a person of high moral standards and impeccable integrity who strongly believed in the politics of civility and principles and never budged on his principled stands,” he said.

Senior minister Tariq Farooq was also full of praise for the late leader.

“Khalid sahib was an incorruptible, conscientious, dignified, courageous, civilized and immaculate politician whose absence will be felt for long times to come,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2018