Authorities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have put senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest, not allowing him to deliver sermon and offer congregational Friday prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, today.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the managing body of the Jamia Masjid, Anjuman Auqaf in a statement issued in Srinagar strongly condemned the New Delhi installed administration for its repeated action of not allowing the Mirwaiz to deliver sermons and offer Friday prayers in the historic mosque.
The Anjuman said that after his release from four years of illegal house arrest, Mirwaiz was allowed to visit the Jama Masjid only on three Fridays and has been under house arrest every Friday since then. It said that such a hostile attitude of the administration towards Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was not only sad but had also caused great grief among the people in the occupied territory.
The Anjuman said, “The administration is not giving any justifiable reason as to why it doesn’t allow Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to offer the Friday prayer, and this process has been going on continuously for the last several months’.
“Such actions, including his repeated house arrest, especially on Fridays, represent a clear and blatant violation of his fundamental religious rights. This undue interference in religious affairs not only undermines the basic principles of freedom of religion and belief but also deepens the sense of injustice and alienation among the people”.—KMS