NEW DELHI: Clashes erupted between youth and the government forces in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district earlier on Monday following the burial of two teenage militants named Mudasir Rashid Parray and Saqib Bilal Sheikh. One of the teens named Saqib Bilawal who was killed in the encounter was reportedly a theatre artist and had acted in Haider, a 2014 Bollywood movie featuring Shahid Kapoor in the lead role.

Saqib Bilawal had cleared his Class 10 with a distinction and was studying physics, chemistry and maths in Class 11. He was a football expert and had even played taekwondo and kabaddi. It is reported that the other boy belonged to a poor family and Saqib came from a well to do farming family. Both the boys had left their homes on August 31 and Bilal’s family is at a loss to understand why he joined militancy.

During the operation, the search party was fired upon by the militants who were hiding and the fire was retaliated, leading to a gunfight. Saqib Bilal was 17 years old and was a Class 11 student. Soon after the encounter, clashes erupted between youth and the government forces in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Monday following the burial of two teenage militants.

Witnesses said that youth took to streets and raised pro-freedom slogans after Mudasir Parrey (14) and Saqib Bilal Sheikh (17) were laid to rest. Parrey and Sheikh were killed on Sunday along with a Pakistani militant in a gunfight with the government forces in Mujgund on the outskirts of Srinagar.

“Youth pelted forces with stones who responded by firing several tear smoke and sound shells to disperse them,” said a witness. Clashes were going on when last reports came.