IIOJK authorities again disallow Mirwaiz to offer Juma prayers

The authorities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, continued to place senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest, today and disallowed him to offer Juma prayers.

According to Kashmir Media Service, this was the 12th successive Friday that the Mirwaiz was prevented from performing his religious obligation of offering Juma prayers.

The Mirwaiz in a statement strongly denounced his house detention to prevent him from delivering Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid, Srinagar. He maintained that after his release on September 22 from four years of continued house detention since August 2019, he was only permitted to go to Jamia Masjid on three Fridays. He said, since then, every Friday, he has been put under house arrest without any reason provided by the authorities.

“Since October 13, Jamia Masjid itself was locked to people for ten consecutive Fridays, and it was only last week that people were allowed to offer Friday prayers there. However, the duration of this permission remains uncertain while the ban on me continues. The authorities whimsically open or close the central Jamia Masjid to Muslims for prayers without accountability, and no one can inquire why,” he said.

The Mirwaiz said this arbitrariness, disregard for religious rights and sentiments of Muslims and strong-arm tactics of the authorities, even on the basic human principle of allowing the practice of religion uninterrupted, are telling signs of the time and situation we are living in. It also mocks the authorities’ own statements claiming “Things are great in Jammu & Kashmir, and I am a free man who can go anywhere”, he added.

The Mirwaiz reiterated his belief that repression of any kind, including on religious rights, cannot bring or maintain peace. He urged the Indian decision-makers to revisit this policy.