It took the procession to cover a distance of about 10 km more than two hours as people at various places on way paid tributes to the departed separatist leader. When the funeral procession reached the Idgah, the mourners raised pro-Pak and anti-India slogans.

A large number of people from all walks of life reached the house of Lone, where his body was kept since last evening.

The decision to lay Lone to rest at the Idgah graveyard was taken after Bilal Lone, eldest son of the slain separatist leader, arrived here from New Delhi. Lone’s supporters had been insisting on taking the body to Lone’s ancestral hometown of Handwara in Kupwara district.

Several senior leaders of the APHC, including Chairman, Abdul Ghani Bhat, former Chairman, Umar Farooq and Maulana Abbas Ansari, were present.

The executive committee of the Hurriyat Conference, at its emergency meeting at the party headquarters this morning, condemned the killing. It also demanded an inquiry into the killing.

Lone’s son Sajjad held Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah responsible for the assassination, saying he had reduced the security of the Hurriyat leader despite a threat to his life.

“He died in the convergence between state actors and non-state actors,” Sajjad said, adding the state actors were led by Abdullah, who had reduced the security of Lone, knowing that there was risk to his life.

In Jammu, the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party demanded a high-powered judicial probe into the assassination of Lone in Srinagar despite the presence of dozens of armed security personnel.

Meanwhile, the police and security forces virtually sealed all roads leading to Handwara, following a surcharged atmosphere.

Reports reaching from Handwara said fleets of heavy vehicles carrying followers of the slain leader were stopped by the police and were not allowed to proceed towards the Srinagar residence of Lone to attend his funeral.