Srinagar, May 6 (IBNS) Hurriat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday hold funeral prayers for slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Jammu & Kashmir's Srinagar town.
While Geelani spearheaded the funeral prayers -'Gaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza'- at Batmaloo area, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party chief and separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah led similar prayers at Sarai Bala area here.
Addressing the gathering, Geelani said: “By burying Osama bin Laden at sea, the US hurt Muslim sentiments. And hence we held this funeral prayers in absence so that he gets a proper Muslim farewell.” The separatist leader also prayed for ‘safety’ of Pakistan.
"Pakistan is the only Muslim country in the world with nuclear power. But it is also surrounded by several threats. We all pray for the safety and prosperity of Pakistan. May peace always prevail there," Geelani said.
The Jammu & Kashmir Police had put Geelani under house arrest Thursday morning after he appealed to Imams (Muslim priests) and people to pray for Osama after Friday ‘namaz’ in the afternoon.
But the state government on Friday allowed Geelani to go to Batmaloo in Srinagar where the Hurriat Conference leader held funeral prayers for Osama.
Addressing Osama as a ‘martyr’, Geelani on Thursday said: “He represented a thinking which opposed foreign occupational forces. His heart bore the pain of the entire Muslim Ummah (clan). He gave up his life of comfort to fight for their cause.”
Osama was killed in Pakistan late on Sunday, ending an almost decade long manhunt for the world's most sought after terrorist, announced US President Barack Obama.
Responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pengatagon, that killed about 3,000 people, bin Laden was hunted worldwide only to be found nearly ten years later in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night speech from the White House, briefing on what comes as major accomplishment for the Democrat President who faces the voters next year.
Details of the operation are sparse with the media being denied access from the site of the attack but reports have put together a series of events leading to bin Laden’s killing in a mansion in Abbottabad.
A targeted operation was launched based on specific intelligence by U.S. authorities, who reached the location on two choppers, infiltrating the 16-foot-high walled mansion by dropping down from the copters.
Reports said one of the choppers crashed due to mechanical failure but no American was killed. A heavy gunbattle followed as bin Laden’s men apparently put up a fight but finally the terror chief was shot in the head and killed. The Guardian reported that bin Laden was even given a chance to surrender.
There were conflicting reports that whether the Pakistani authorities were involved in the operation. While it is largely confirmed that it was U.S. special forces that stormed bin Laden’s mansion, whether the Pakistani military provided ground support or not, is under speculation.
U.S authorities announced the terror chief’s death late Sunday night (Monday morning in India) saying they had bin Laden’s body in possession. Later President Barack Obama confirmed the death making a special address. “I can report to the American people and to the world, that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,” he said.
“The United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation...No Americans were harmed...After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body,” he said.
“Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will -- remain vigilant at home and abroad,” he said. The announcement was met with jubilation across America and elsewhere in the World. People thronged to Ground Zero and Times Square in New York and in front of the White House in Washington D.C. celebrating the death of the country’s deadliest enemy.
(Courtesy : http://NewsDetails)
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