On Friday, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in a statement said that the prolonged house arrest of its chairman and Mirwaiz of Kashmir Mohammad Umar Farooq since August 2019, even in the holy month of Ramzan despite appeals from all quarters for his release, barring him from his religious obligations as the Mirwaiz is greatly regrettable.
It defies the authorities to claim that “all is well now” in “Naya Kashmir,” Hurriyat said.
Not only that the repeated closure of the historic and central Jama Masjid Srinagar by the authorities also belies these claims, it added.
Hurriyat said that not allowing juma tul Vida (last Friday of Ramzan) prayers at the historic Jama masjid, on such an important religious day when lakhs of namazis from all over the valley traditionally pray at the Masjid for its great religious significance, was condemnable. And that it was a direct violation of people’s fundamental right to practice their religion.
APHC said that such measures are a reminder that things on the ground in Kashmir are not what is being propagated to the outside world by strictly controlled narrative and a huge number of forces on the ground.