Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid, Srinagar, has strongly denounced the continued house detention of its chief, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The Anjuman in a statement in Srinagar said, the authorities disallowed the Mirwaiz from offering obligatory Juma prayers, today, for the 208th successive week at the grand mosque.
It said that as news was rife on social media since today morning that the Mirwaiz might be allowed to come to the Jamia Masjid, after Lieutenant Governor of IIOJK in an interview said ‘he (Mirwaiz) will also offer Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid’, people reached out to the Anjuman to inquire if the Mirwaiz will be coming to historic mosque today. “To get clarity on this, the Anjuman reached the concerned police authorities to ask if in the light of Lieutenant Governor’s statement the Mirwaiz will be allowed to come to Jamia Masjid today. The concerned authorities said they have not been intimated anything on this matter by the higher authorities and so cannot comment on it, so the status quo of his detention continues,” it added.
The Anjuman said in view of these conflicting statements and despite repeated appeals for his release from all quarters, and also in view of the Lieutenant Governor’s own assertions, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq continues to be under house detention for last over 4 years. It said as such, the Mirwaiz has been pushed to take the legal route now, and he has decided to send a legal notice to the concerned authorities to clarify his status and initiate proceedings for his release from house detention, so that his religious and other public obligations don’t suffer any further.
The Anjuman said it is hoped that the Mirwaiz will get relief through the courts and people eagerly awaiting his return to Jamia Masjid will once again hear him from the pulpit of the grand mosque.—KMS
