“Hurriyat strongly condemns the regime’s decision not to allow large number of people to assemble for the late leader’s namaz e jinaza at Eidgah. Authorities instead directed people to offer funeral prayers locally at Alamgari Bazar, once again hurting people’s sentiments and displaying their authoritarian outlook even in times of grief,” the Hurriyat statement read.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) expressed deep sorrow and grief over the demise of veteran Hurriyat Executive Member, its former chairman, and leading religious scholar of J&K, Moulana Muhammad Abbas Ansari who passed away tuesday morning.
Paying glorious tributes to the late leader, APHC said that throughout his life he resolutely and unyieldingly advocated resolution of the Kashmir conflict in accordance with the aspirations of its people, and made personal sacrifices for his political stand, as he was jailed several times and spent years in jail in the course of the people’s movement for the resolution of the conflict.
“His belief that the resolution could be attained through peaceful means became evident during the regime of (Pakistan President) Pervez Musharraf and (Indian Prime Minister) late Atal Bihari Vajpaye, when he proactively championed the All Parties Hurriyat Conference’s stand that the Kashmir dispute is solved through dialogue and negotiations with India and Pakistan,” the Hurriyat statement read.
Since its creation in 1993 he made regular efforts to make the Hurriyat Conference a unified and strong platform for representing people’s will and continued with his efforts when he was elected as the chairman of Hurriyat in 2003. Before that, the late leader played a pivotal role in the Moi -e -Muqadas movement in 1963, Hurriyat said.
Paying glorious tributes to Moulana Abbas Ansari for his long and principled political career, APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is under house detention for pursuing that principled stand, recalled the great contribution of the late Abbas Sahab to the peoples movement and his role in strengthening the platform of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. As its first chairman in 1992, Maulana Abbas Ansari guided the young Mirwaiz like a father figure and in their association for the last 30 years shared an affectionate bond with him.
Recalling Moulana Ansari’s historic journey to Casablanca (Morocco) in 1994 with him, on a special invitation from the OIC, Mirwaiz said that the late leader very ably discharged his duties as the spokesperson of Kashmiri people at the world forum.
APHC chairman expressed deep sadness that due to his continued incarceration he was not allowed to attend the namaz e jinaza of his dear colleague and companion of three decades, nor was he able to offer condolence in person to the bereaved family.
APHC said that with the demise of Moulana Ansari, an era has truly come to an end and it is not possible to fill the void created by his passing away in the political and religious circles of JK.