KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Inspector General of Police Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said that the police will not allow the procession of Shias on 8th Muharram on the traditional routes.
“We won’t allow the Muharram procession taking the security situation into view,” IGP told KNS.
Jammu Kashmir Itehadul Muslimeen Chief Patron Moulana Abbas Ansari is scheduled to lead the traditional ‘Alam’ procession on 8th Muharram (Thursday).
The traditional procession would begin from Abi Guzar to Zadibal. During the Islamic month of Muharram, Shi’ites across the world mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein in the Iraqi city of Kerbala in the year 680.
The Shias take two procession-one on 8th Muharram and the second on 1oth Moharram (Ashura)
But in Kashmir, Muharram processions remain banned by the government banned since 1989 due to “serious security and law and order problems” in the city.
Only small mourning rallies and processions are allowed in selected areas with Shi’ite populations.
However, the ban has been protested by the Shias, who say that it was a religious infringement by the authorities.
