Hundreds attend Sopore youth’s funeral prayers, raise pro freedom & Pro Pak slogans

Srinagar: Hundreds of people on Thursday took part in the last rites of 25-year-old Arif Ahmad who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Harwan village of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Mourners, including women and children, raised pro-freedom, pro-Islam and pro-Pakistan slogans as the body was marched through his native Younsu village in Handwara.
Arif, according to his relatives, was a salesman with a pharmaceutical agency, and is survived by three sisters and two brothers, besides differently-abled father.He was shot dead by unknown gunmen at his maternal home in Harwan area of Sopore Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday claimed that the Arif Ahmed Sofi who was killed by unidentified gunmen was affiliated with the party.
The party state president, Sat Sharma, state general secretary (Org) Ashok Kaul, state general secretary and incharge Kashmir affairs Dr Narendra Singh and BJP Kashnir unit in an official statement said that they are deeply saddened over the brutal murder of party worker by militants.
“Pained to learn about the brutal murder of our worker in Sopore. Our deepest condolences to his family. Assailants must realize that they cannot stop the youth of the valley from choosing a better future for themselves,” they said.
“Killing human beings in every form is cowardly and against humanity,” the leadership said, adding, militants could not stop the youth from choosing a better future.
Sofi was working with a pharmaceutical agency is survived by two brothers and three sisters and a differently-abled father.