All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Sunday called upon the world community, United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and human rights organisations to use their influence to build pressure on India to allow the Kashmiris to exercise their right to freedom of religion.
“The right to religious liberty for the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir is being completely and systematically violated and trampled upon by the government of India and their local collaborators as part of its state policy of repression,” said the Hurriyat chief in a message shared exclusively with Pakistan Toady from Srinagar.
It may be mentioned here that at present Mirwaiz Umar Farooq along with APHC and other Muslim leaders has been put under house arrest by the oppressive regime of India.
“It was the 15th consecutive Friday since July 8 that Friday prayers are not being allowed to be held at the historic and central Jamia Masjid of Srinagar and other major mosques, as strict curfew and restrictions have been put in place in the entire area and across the Valley, barring people from assembling for Friday prayers,” said Mirwaiz, who has long been unable to deliver Friday sermons from the pulpit of Jamia Majid in Srinagar due to the curbs instituted against him.
Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, as the world knows, holds great significance and is central to the religious identity of Kashmiri Muslims besides being the political symbol of Kashmir’s resistance movement.
“Being under detention since July 8, I as Mirwaiz have not been able to deliver Friday sermons from the pulpit of Jamia Majid which is a four-hundred-year-old tradition. In the recent history of Kashmir’s subjugation, this has been the longest period so far where people are being prevented from practicing their fundamental religious obligation by the Indian state,” said the religious leader.
He regretted that even this year for the first time on Eid, curfew was imposed in the entire Valley and people were even barred from offering Eid prayers. “I would call upon the world community, UN, OIC and human rights organisations to use their influence to pressure India to allow the Kashmiris to exercise their fundamental right to religious freedom by all means,” concluded the Hurriyat chief.