MUST READ: WE LOVE YOU PALHALAN, WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR SACRIFICES. On Wednesday morning when a large procession of men, women and children gathered in Palhallan near the shrine of Sufi saint Syed Jamaluddin Bukhari to offer funeral prayers of Aaqib and Bilal, emotions touched an extreme threshold. As Bilal’s mother stood up to speak, anti-government and pro-freedom slogans reverberated in the grief- filled air. “It is a moment of pride for me that Bilal has achieved martyrdom. You should bid him farewell happily,” she told the roaring crowd which responded with slogans of freedom and liberation from Indian rule. # There is an old tradition of bidding farewell to those who ‘die for the cause’ in Palhallan. As the villagers prepared to bury Aaqib and Bilal on Wednesday, young men formed a human chain around their bodies. The deceased were then fed milk from a cup by their mothers. The villagers then entered the chain, one by one, to have their last glimpse. The coffins were then lifted and the procession marched through every street as wailing women covering their faces showered flower petals and sweets from their windows #There is not a single house in Palhallan whose windows have not been broken. Instead of glass, blankets and thin rectangular panels of popular wood normally used for apple cartons are used to cover window openings on walls. # Despite severe restrictions and hardships, the villagers remain unfazed. Their only complaint against the police is the excessive use of pepper gas. When I reached the village on Sunday afternoon, a strange, acidic taste first appeared in my mouth. It was followed by a severe skin irritation around nose and eyes.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 03:19:17 +0000
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