Anjumam Auqaf of Jamia Masjid, Srinagar, has denounced in strong terms the continued house detention of its chief, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Anjuman Auqaf in a statement said that it was the 209th consecutive Friday when Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was not allowed to come to the grand mosque to deliver the Friday sermon and offer prayers. It said that this was done despite a legal notice was served by the Mirwaiz to the authorities, last week, to clarify their position on his detention and release him.
Meanwhile, on the 34th anniversary of Opera-tion Jamia Masjid, the Anjuman Auqaf remembered the brutal operation and said that repeated attempts by the Indian authorities to weaken the centrality of the historic mosque as a religious and public institution of the Kashmir valley have failed in the past and will never succeed even in future.—KMS
