Thousands of mourners thronged the funeral on Monday of a 14-year-old freedom fighter martyred by Indian troops in held Kashmir, the youngest-ever fighter killed in the decades-long insurgency, police said. Mudasir Ahmad Parrey was martyred alongside two others, one a 17-year-old, outside the city of held 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 young fighters deaths sparked angry protests. A funeral procession Monday for the martyred teenagers turned violent as mourners clashed with police, who used tear gas to drive them back. At 14, police said he was the youngest known fighter to have martyred in the insurgency.
He was martyred in an 18-hour siege by Indian troops in Hajin, outside held Srinagar. The home Parrey and the two other fighters 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.