KL Report
SRINAGAR
President Awami Ittihaad Party (AIP) and MLA Langate Er Rashid has strongly condemned strict restrictions imposed by the administration in Srinagar city to stop Moharram processions.
In a press statement issued Wednesday, Rashid said that the government had turned whole of the Srinagar City into a battle field and common people including elderly persons, women and children in every nook and corner of the city were being humiliated by CRPF and other security agencies.
“Every year lakhs of Hindu devotees do visit Kashmir to perform Amarnath Yatra and their number increases every year, despite genuine reservations expressed by cross sections of the society to reduce the number and still Muslim community tries to do its best to accommodate them even at the cost of ecological, social and environmental hazards, he said.
“The state govt.’s machinery remains on its toes and is apparently run by the governor by bye passing the elected govt. during the Yatra period, just to ensure that Yatries do not get any problem in performing their religious obligations. However when it comes to the natives of the land called Kashmiris, govt. of India through its puppets in state administration imposes strict restrictions, whether it comes to Eid prayers or Moharram processions and thus indulges in infiltration in religious affairs of Kashmiri Muslims and gets exposed for its so called secular culture and tradition,” he said.
Rashid further added that though Kashmir issue is purely a political issue but the government by giving two different treatments to devotes of Amarnath Yatra and Moharram Processions, makes the issue religious and Kashmiri Muslims have every right and reason to claim that.
“J&K is a religious dispute as they are being treated as second class citizens for being members of Muslim community.”
Er Rashid warned state administration that it should not every time succumb to the pressure of political setup, but must dare on occasions to ask its conscience that why should it subject its own people to ill treatment and harass them even on eve of holy days.
