Rayees Shah
Muslims performed last rites of a Kashmiri Pandit who passed away in Watalbagh Ganderbal locality of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Wednesday.
A Kashmiri pandit Mohan Krishna Matoo,72, breathed his last at SKIMS Soura in the wee hours plunging the whole locality in mourning, eyewitnesses told The Kashmiriyat.
Soon after the news of Matoo’s death spread, local Muslims made special arrangements in performing his last rites. They also ferried firewood to help the family to cremate the deceased.
“It is our duty to help neighbours irrespective of their religion,” Shahbaz, a local resident, said
“He passed away in the morning. Keeping social distancing norms in mind, the local Muslims visited the bereaved family one by one and expressed their condolences,” Aijaz he said.
In Ganderbal locality around a dozen Pandit families are residing who did not migrate from Kashmir valley during the peak of militancy in 1990’s, instead decided to stay put. Since then the two communities have been living in the locality in bonhomie.