The Jammu Kashmir Police has said it arrested one person for spreading animosity between two religious groups in Kashmir.
Official sources told The Kashmiriyat that one Mutahir Dar, a resident of Mahoo in Banihal has been arrested for promoting enmity between different groups and provoking people to attack religious symbols.
In a video that evoked widespread anger, a man with a long beard, was heard talking of a dream where Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jeelani, a highly revered Sufi saint had come to his dream and asked him to bulldoze all Khanqahs across Kashmir.
“He provided me the phone number of the JCB driver and asked me to get all the Khanqahs in Kashmir bulldozed,” he is heard saying.
Sources from Banihal told The Kashmiriyat that Mutahir is from the Salafi school of thought and is known for his comments against the majority Hanfi community of Kashmir.
They said that the 28-year-old spends most of his time on social media making reels. “Some of his reels are highly vulgar and recently in one, he was seen having edited a clip from a movie which was highly shameless in content,” said a local.
Reacting to the video, many religious clerics had expressed anger and disappointment saying that such incidents lead to divisions among Muslims. “Incidents like such have a potential to create divisions and lead muslims into chaos. When we are working to remove the gaps between two majority Sunni and Shia communities, such elements create huge gaps and these elements need to provided no space in the social discourse,” said Moulana Gulzar, a preacher from south Kashmir.
The Jammu Kashmir Police has arrested Mutahir under the FIR No 45/ 2023 U/S 153A,295 IPC PS has been registered at Shergarhi Srinagar Police station.