Amid the raging controversy regarding Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s 3-year long house detention, it has now come to the fore that the chief cleric has decided to deliver his first Friday Sermon this week, i.e., tomorrow, after the Abrogation of the special status of the region in August 2019.
A report by The Hindu claims at the behest of sources that the “vehicles once blocking the gate of the Mirwaiz’s residence in Srinagar’s Nigeen area have been moved away and stationed at a distance.”
Meanwhile, last week, a huge controversy had erupted after LG Manoj Sinha’s interview with BBC Hindi, where the LG claimed that Mirwaiz was not put under any forceful detention and that all the security surrounding his house was for his own safety.
“In the past, his father was assassinated, unfortunately. We keep security around his house to protect him. He needs to decide what he wants to do. He is neither under house arrest nor detained,” L-G Sinha had said.
However, Mirwaiz’s claims didn’t sit well with other political factions including the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat. The Hurriyat released a statement and asked that if the Mirwaiz was not under forceful house detention, he must be allowed to deliver the next Friday sermon, i.e., August 26, at Srinagar’s historical Jamia Masjid.
'Let Mirwaiz deliver Friday sermon on Aug 26, if he's not illegally detained,' Hurriyat reacts to LG's claim https://t.co/OtIjPYhzxC
— The Kashmiriyat (@TheKashmiriyat) August 19, 2022
On the days that followed, some journalists went to Mirwaiz’s residence in order to meet him but were stopped by the forces deployed outside his house. The Mirwaiz was seen trying to talk to a BBC journalist from the clerestory of a room near his gate.
The journalist said that Mirwaiz was trying to communicate with her that all the claims of the administration were a lie and the truth was that he was arrested and that no one except his immediate family was allowed to meet him.
Here is the video report
— Kirti Dubey (@Kirti_Dubey07) August 21, 2022
However, it remains to be seen tomorrow whether the administration allows the Mirwaiz to deliver the Friday sermon or not.