Srinagar, Oct 15: The Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has lashed out at the government for not allowing congregation prayers at historic Jamia Masjid in old city for the sixth consecutive Friday today. 

“It was only during the month of Ramadhan in last four months that people were allowed to offer Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid here. Despite uproar in the state assembly over it, the government continues to debar people from offering Friday prayers there. Putting Jamia Masjid under siege is a deplorable act,” Mirwaiz said in a statement.    

Meanwhile, a Hurriyat (M) spokesman said Mirwaiz had to shelve his plan to visit Charar-e-Sharief shrine today to offer Friday prayers and deliver a sermon as he continued to be under house arrest.  
Barring Wednesday, October 14, Mirwaiz has been under house arrest continuously since September 12. “The government and other agencies are placing Mirwaiz under house arrest to put curbs on his religious, social and political activities which highly condemnable. They are scared of this overwhelming popularity,” he added.

Meanwhile, the spokesman also condemned the house arrest of Hurriyat leader Aga Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Sufvi and expressed anguish over he being prevented from discharging his religious duties.

He castigated central and state governments for using, “military might” to prevent people from expressing their sentiments. “They cannot stop us from performing our religious, political and social duties besides representing peoples’ genuine aspirations and sentiments,” he said.

The spokesman asked government of India and state government to immediately acknowledge the realities and ground situation as peoples’ genuine voice and aspirations could not be suppressed by power and violence.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST