KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Mandatory congregational prayers were disallowed for 18th consecutive Friday in Kashmir’s historic 622-year-old Jamia Masjid located in the state’s summer capital Srinagar.
J&K Government has sealed all roads leading to Jamia Masjid situated in Nowhatta and disallowed the mandatory Friday prayers today, once again.
While the resistance leadership and people across religious and political divide have repeatedly asked the government to allow the mandatory prayers is the Srinagar’s largest and historic Masjid, government today deployed forces in strength across the length and breadth of Jamia Masjid and also imposed curfew in six police stations in summer capital.
The resistance leadership had urged people to reach Jamia Masjid on Thursday evening, however, government came down heavily on the proposed plan and detained Kashmir’s head-priest Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at his Nigeen residence while Mohammad Yasin Malik was arrested from his Maisuma home and shifted to Central jail Srinagar same day.
Latest reports reaching here said that octogenarian Hurriyat Conference chief Syed Ali Geelani, who is under house detention since 2010, tried to march towards Jamia Masjid today, but police locked him inside his Hyderpora house.
Late in the afternoon on Thursday, police disallowed people from marching towards Jamia masjid and resorted to massive shelling and pelleting on civilians. Reportedly, many were injured in the police action.
Witnesses said that since early morning today, police imposed severe restrictions in the areas surrounding Jamia Masjid and didn’t allow people to venture out of their homes as men in uniform were deployed huge numbers.
“We were directed not to move out since early morning, even the pedestrian movement was halted,” a local from Khanyar told Kashmir Life over phone.
Muhammad Sultan Wani, a local said that even when militancy was on peak in Kashmir during the 1990s and there was a large-scale rebellion, Jamia Masjid wasn’t sealed for prayers.
