Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest

SRINAGAR: Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house Friday and barred from delivering his sermon at Kashmir’s Jamia Masjid.

“Once again, I have been placed under house arrest by authorities,” the Mirwaiz said in a statement, adding that a large posse of cops had been deployed outside his residence early Friday, and the main gate had been locked.

Calling the move an interference in the religious affairs of Muslims, the Mirwaiz said, “Our human and political rights already stand denied... there is relentless interference in our religious matters from locking us up to silencing our voice on issues ranging from the Ashoka plaque at Hazratbal to meddling with Muslim calendar holidays, to disallowing religious functions at masjids.”

He stated that the pulpit of Jamia Masjid will, however, continue “to raise its voice on matters of religious interference or blatant violation of people’s rights and their disempowerment.”

National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar condemned the Mirwaiz’s house arrest, calling it “absolutely wrong”. “There is no justification for Mirwaiz’s house arrest. Such things are happening even as the administration claims that everything is normal in Kashmir,” he said.

Under the UT arrangement in J&K, police, security and law and order falls under the purview of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Since his release in Sept 2023 after a four-year house arrest following the 2019 nullification of Article 370 in J&K, the Mirwaiz has frequently faced restrictions, with police detaining him at home on Fridays. In June, Jamia Masjid remained locked on Eid-ul-Adha while he was confined at home.

“Flouting rudimentary aspects of the Constitution and constitutionalism will only bring anarchy sooner or later,” PDP spokesperson Zuhaib Yousf Mir said.