SRINAGAR: Thousands of mourners thronged the funeral on Monday of a 14-year-old fighter shot dead by Indian troops in India-held Kashmir, the youngest-ever fighter killed in the decades-long struggle for right to self-determination, police said.

Mudasir Ahmad Parrey was killed alongside two other fighters, one a 17-year-old, outside Srinagar on Sunday.

Parrey, a ninth-grade student, went missing in August before emerging in a photograph on social media brandishing an automatic assault rifle and military knife.

The funeral procession on Monday for the teenagers turned violent as mourners clashed with police, who used tear gas to drive them back.

Many young men die fighting Indian troops but Parrey’s death shocked even a region weary from years of bloodshed. At 14, police said, he was the youngest known fighter to have died during the conflict.

He was killed in an 18-hour siege by Indian troops in Hajin, outside Srinagar. The home Parrey and the two others were holed up in was blasted to rubble.

“He had never failed in school exams,” mourned his father, Rashid. The teenager also sometimes worked as a labourer to help out with family expenses, he added.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018