Six weeks after Ayub Pandith’s lynching, Friday prayers offered in Jamia Masjid

Soon after the prayers were over, a group of men started sloganeering and pelting security forces with stones, a police official said.

Congregational Friday prayers were on Thursday offered at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for the first time in six weeks since police officer Mohammad Ayub Pandith was lynched by a mob outside the mosque.

Jammu and Kashmir DGP S P Vaid lays a wreath at the coffin of slain DSP Mohammed Ayub Pandit. (PTI File Photo)

However, soon after the prayers were over, a group of men started sloganeering and pelting security forces with stones, a police official said.

Police used tear smoke shells and pellet guns to chase away the protestors, he said adding three persons sustained injuries in police action.

The violent protests came despite strong deployment of police and paramilitary personnel in localities around the mosque in the old city area, a police official said.

Over the past six weeks, authorities have imposed restrictions on Fridays as a precautionary measure to prevent any protests after the congregational afternoon prayers attended by thousands.

The weekly cycle of restrictions began a day after Pandith, a DSP in security wing, was lynched by a mob while he was performing access control duty at Jamia Masjid on June 22.

It was for the first time in recent history that Juma’atul Vida’a (the last Friday of fasting month of Ramzan) was not offered in Jamia Masjid where over one lakh devotees assemble every year on that day.

Meanwhile, reports of violent clashes between protestors and security forces were received from parts of Pulwama, Shopian and Sopore town, the official said.

There were no reports of any casualties in these clashes which were going on till last reports came in, he added.