Separatist leader Ashraf Sehrai laid to rest at his ancestral village in J-K's Kupwara

Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai was on Thursday laid to rest at his ancestral village in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir as per COVID protocol, officials said here.

Sehrai, who was arrested and booked under the Public safety Act last year, died at a Jammu hospital on Wednesday while in custody.

The separatist leader's COVID test reports were negative.

''Burial of separatist leader late Ashraf Shehrai completed as per Covid protocol in presence of family members at his native place,'' Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said in a tweet.

Sehrai's demise while in preventive detention under the PSA led to widespread calls for release of other political prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir who are held in various jails within and outside the Union Territory.