Srinagar, Feb 2, 2016, (PTI):
In a heart warming example of Kashmiriyat, Muslims of a village in Kulgam district of south Kashmir performed the last rites of a Kashmiri Pandit, who clung his roots and refused to leave the valley when all others in his family fled under threat from militants.
Janki Nath (84), a resident of Malvan in Kulgam, died on Saturday.
In the absence of family member or Kashmiri Pandit, the local Muslims organised the last rites of the deceased and mourned his death as one of their own.
Nath, who was the only member of his community living among the 5000 Muslims in Malvan, had decided to stay back when Kashmiri Pandits fled the valley in 1990.
He had retired from the government service in 1990, when militancy raised its head in the state.
He was not keeping well for the past five years and Muslim neighbours were taking care of him.
As the news of his death broke, locals were inconsolable.