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Sealed! Th J&K Government has banned mandatory Friday prayers in historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for consecutive Fridays. The locked entrance to the Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta in Old Srinagar on Oct 21, 2016. (KL Image: Bilal Bahadur)
Sealed! Historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar. (KL Image: Bilal Bahadur)

For seventeenth consecutive weeks, mandatory congregational Friday prayers were not allowed — imposing massive restrictions in and around its premises — in the historical Jamia Masjid Srinagar today.

Kashmir is shut for last 119 days since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 in South Kashmir’s Bemdoora area.

The successive governments have putting siege around the historic Jamia Masjid on Fridays during uprisings and protests.

In fact, the Sikh rulers of Kashmir in 19th century would often close the historic Masjid to disallow people from rising against then establishment.

Last Friday, while trying to break the siege on Jamia Masjid, Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was arrested on the way and not allowed to offer the mandatory prayers.

Hurriyat Conference (m) media advisor, Adv Shahid Ul Islam, told Kashmir Life that Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was yet again stopped from leaving his Nigeen residence by a posse of police. He tried to offer Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid.

While condemning the ban on mandatory congregational prayers in Jamia Masjid, he termed the government step “as interference in the religion”.

The banning of the prayers has already received wide condemnation from the different spheres of the society.

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