Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said Jamia Masjid will always reverberate with voices against repression.
Mirwaiz also said that as per the past practice, this year too, coming Friday will be observed as Jumatul Vida and also as Youm-e-Qudus (in solidarity with Palestine) and also Youme-e-Kashmir (Kashmir Day).
He said no matter who rules Jammu and Kashmir, Jamia Masjid has always been targeted.
During the weeky Friday sermon at the Kashmir’s grand mosque, Mirwaiz said whether it was the Sikh rule, or the Dogra rule, Jamia Masjid was targeted time and again.
“In 1931 and it was for the first time during Dogra rule when the grand masjid was closed for Jumat-ul-Vida(last Friday of Ramadhan) prayers,” Mirwaiz said in his Friday sermon.
He said right from the day Kashmiris started their “fight against the oppression of Dogras to New Delhi’s forcible control, the pulpit of Jamia Masjid has reverberated with the voice against repression and represents the true aspirations of people of Kashmir to break free from the yoke of subjugation.”
Mirwaiz said that Jamia Masjid continues be an “eye sore for the ruling regimes” including those at the helm today as its pulpit represents the sentiments and aspirations of the people and fearlessly raises its voice against oppression.
Mirwaiz said that the more repressive measures government takes to damage the sanctity and centrality of the Jamia Masjid, the more people should throng the place to give a “befitting reply to the government that Kashmiris will never surrender.”
He said even today barricades were erected by the police at various places to prevent youth and people from reaching Jamia Masjid.