Srinagar, July 9: As against a lac of worshippers normally thronging the Kashmir’s holiest Muslim shrine Hazratbal to offer Friday prayers only a few hundred that too from neighbouring localities today could make it owing to strict curfew restrictions. The day coincided with the day of Meraj-ul-Nabi (SAW) the occasion celebrated to commemorate the ascendance or flight of the Holy Prophet SAW to heavens during the night. 
And there immediately after Nimaz they had to struggle vainly to seek the release of about two dozen youth whom police forcibly picked up from amongst the worshippers who had lined up for prayers in the compound outside the sanctum sanctorum for their alleged indulgence in sloganeering.
 As the word went inside the sanctum sanctorum the worshippers started shouting anti-police and pro freedom slogans. Irate police Jawans chased an agitated group of people inside the Masjid and there they had a scuffle with them. It was only with the intervention of the senior citizens that the police jawans escaped the wrath of the worshippers. The pandemonium continued for nearly an hour. The worshippers took exception to the use of mikes by the local Auqaf committee that attracted them to the shrine amidst strict curfew restrictions.
Earlier the Imam of the Dargah Mufti Bashir Ahmad Farooqi in his Friday eve sermon condemned the atrocities committed by police and paramilitary CRPF in the valley during the recent past resulting in death of 15 youths and injuries to a large number of people. He took strong exception to the imposition of curfew on an auspicious occasion like Meraj-i-Alam.
Later in a press statement the Imam and Khateeb of the shrine appealed the government to set the youth at liberty as their continued arrest would foment trouble.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST