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Mirwaiz says stopped from leading prayers, cops cite security concerns
According toofficials aware of the matter, police officials stopped Mirwaiz at the gate of his residence and asked him to return home
Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was on Friday stopped from leaving his residence to attend the congregational prayers at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, a week after J&K L-G Manoj Sinha called him “a free man”.
According toofficials aware of the matter, police officials stopped Mirwaiz at the gate of his residence and asked him to return home. “The Lt Governor has announced that I am a free man... I am going to Jamia Masjid to discharge my religious duties as the Mirwaiz. Why am I being stopped? Why don’t you (officers) give me in writing that I am not allowed to move out from my house?” he asked the police officers.
ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that Mirwaiz was stopped due to security reasons.
“He (Mirwaiz) has serious threats from foreign militants.”
“We don’t allow even mainstream politicians when receive serious inputs,’ ADGP said.
The video went viral on social media in which Mirwaiz is not allowed to move out from his house by police. Mirwaiz was put under house arrest ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A on August 5, 2019.
In an interview to BBC Hindi last week, L-G Sinha said that Mirwaiz was a free man and that he was actually being guarded by forces for security concerns -- a claim that was dismissed by Mirwaiz and his supporters.
“Even in 2019, Mirwaiz wasn’t booked under PSA (Public Safety Act) and was not kept in detention. If you go back, some incidents happened in the past, even the father of Mirwaiz was killed. We have kept police around him for personal safety,” Sinha said.
Citing interview, the mosque’s managing body Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid (AAJM) announced on August 25 that Mirwaiz will deliver the Friday sermons at the Jamia mosque, and it was “hopeful” that the UT administration will allow him.
