Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU) has expressed serious resentment over the continued house arrest of its Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, for the last 20 months.
The MMU members including leading religious scholars, ulema, mashaaikh and aima on Friday in their Friday sermons said, the undue restrictions on the peaceful activities of the Valley’s topmost religious leader and preventing him from performing his religious duties were unacceptable.
The MMU members in their respective mosques, shrines and imambargahs condemned the autocratic approach of the authorities for not allowing the Mirwaiz to address the faithful at the historic Jamia Masjid after 83 Fridays despite announcing on Thursday, as per media reports, that he is no more under house arrest.
They included Anjuman Shari-e-Shian President, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi; Darul Uloom Raheemiyah, Bandipora, Nazim-e-Aala Maulana Rehmatullah Qasmi; Jamiat Ahle Hadeeth Jammu & Kashmir’s Mufti Yaqoob Baba Al-Madni; Ithihad-ul-Muslimeen Chairman Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari; Imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid Srinagar Maulana Ahmad Sayed Naqshbandi; Jamia Masjid Bijbehara Khiram Sarhama imam and Khateeb Mufti Zia-ul-Haq Naazmi; Anjuman Himayat-ul-Islam President and imam and Khateeb of Mirza Akmal-ud-Din Badakhshi Bayhaqi chief Khursheed Ahmad Qanungo; Anjuman Mazhar-ul-Haq Beerwah President and imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid Beerwah Moulana Lateef Ahmad Bukhari; Anjuman Ulema-e-Ahnaf chief Molvi Akhzar Hussain; Jamiat Bazm-e-Ahle Hadeeth Trust’s Peer Rehmatullah; imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid Handwara Mufti Nazim-ul-Haq Nadvi; Anjuman Ulema Wa Aima Masajid Jammu and Kashmir Ameer Molvi Abdullah Ashrafi; imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid Pattan Mufti Ahmad Saeed Bukhari; Karwaan-e-Khattam-e-Nabuwwat chief Mufti Mudasir; and the imams and Khateebs across the Valley.
They said in their sermons that not allowing the Mirwaiz to visit Jamia Masjid and deploying additional number of police personnel outside his residence and blocking roads leading to his house by placing armoured vehicles, barricades and concertina wires, was sheer interference in the religious affairs which are unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the MMU spokesman, while slamming the authoritarian policies of the authorities said that the people from across the Valley had come to Jamia Masjid to listen to the sermon of their beloved leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
However, they were severely disappointed as well as angered after the Mirwaiz was not allowed by the authorities to even move outside his residence, which led to a massive peaceful protest wherein people carried banners slamming the authorities.—KMS
