NEELUM (Kashmir English): In a heart-wrenching incident along the Line of Control (LoC), the funeral of a Raja Liaquat Ali Khan was held in Indian occupied Kashmir, while his family watched helplessly from Azad Kashmir’s Keran village across the Neelum River, to catch his one final glimpse.
The incident, videos of which went viral on social media, has highlighted the continued hardships faced by divided families in Kashmir.
As per details, Raja Liaquat Ali Khan, a resident of Kupwara district in IIOJK, passed away in a hospital in Srinagar. He had been living alone in the region since 1989, when his family migrated to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Following his death on April 25, funeral prayers were held in Kupwara’s Keran, a village that lies on both sides of the LoC, on the bank of the Neelum River. However, due to restrictions, his maternal and paternal relatives living across the border were unable to attend the funeral.
His sisters and other family members gathered on the opposite side of the riverbank in Keran in Neelum Valley, watching from a distance as Liaquat Ali’s last rites were performed.
The videos of his family members crying helplessly from just meters away have shown that the border doesn’t just divide land, it shatters hearts.
The deceased’s cousin, Mumtaz Khan, living in Azad Kashmir, wrote on Facebook, “No one understands the pain of divided families at the LoC better than those who have faced the heart-wrenching experience of being unable to view and attend the final prayer (Janaza) of their departed loved ones (Late Liaquat Ali Khan) for merely a hundred meters away.”
More to Follow
