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Kashmir’s main cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was barred from starring prayers astatine Jama Masjid successful Srinagar connected Friday (January 2, 2025) and delivered a sermon online, wherever helium said “the Kashmir struggle continues to support the portion successful an unsettled state”.
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The Mirwaiz, who dropped the rubric ‘Hurriyat chairman’ from X (formerly Twitter), allegedly aft unit from the authorities, has been barred from starring prayers astatine Jama Masjid for the past 2 weeks. In his online sermon on Friday (January 2, 2025), posted connected societal media platforms, the Mirwaiz reflected connected the twelvemonth 2025.
“Despite making unilateral changes successful 2019, the world is that the Kashmir struggle continues to support the portion successful an unsettled authorities that tin erupt anytime. That is wherefore wars are paused, not ended, and dialog finds nary takers,” the Mirwaiz said.
Referring to his engagement with enactment of the subcontinent and successive Indian leaderships, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and L.K. Advani, the Mirwaiz said, “I americium committed to sincere efforts of dialogue. My way remains the same. Dialogue has worked elsewhere and our anticipation remains alive. When determination is sincere willingness to prosecute successful the tone of “insaniyataur jamhooriyat”, arsenic Vajpayee ji erstwhile said, bid gets the champion chance.”
‘Tragedy, uncertainty’
In notation to the Pahalgam and Red Fort attacks, the Mirwaiz said, “It was a twelvemonth marked by calamity and uncertainty. The horrific Pahalgam onslaught shook america deeply. Unequivocally condemned by 1 and each successful the valley, it led to a batch of anxiousness among the radical arsenic they were targeted and homes demolished. This was followed by different India-Pakistan war, and a stark reminder of however fragile bid successful the portion continues to be”.
The Mirwaiz’s code focussed connected the spot shortage betwixt Kashmiris and New Delhi. “It has widened, not shrunk. Enforced soundlessness is projected arsenic acquiescence. Wounds stay open, problems unaddressed, and an elected authorities of a UT complains of being powerless. A consciousness of hopelessness prevails, on with an existential situation of losing one’s individuality done demographic alteration since the State was downgraded to a Union Territory, law guarantees withdrawn, and rules and laws tweaked,” the Mirwaiz said.
He besides highlighted the banning of his enactment Awami Action Committee (AAC). “The AAC is simply a socio-political instauration that reached retired to radical successful need, advocating peace, dialog and solution on with Ittihadul Muslimeen, which were portion of the Hurriyat Conference. Much of that abstraction has present been extinguished. Today we are operating successful an situation wherever immoderate look of views contrary to the state, oregon immoderate disagreement, is progressively criminalised, branded arsenic “anti-national” and penalised,” the Mirwaiz said.
The Mirwaiz said his entree to the pulpit of Jama Masjid besides being curtailed. “Arbitrary location arrests person go a recurring diagnostic successful my life. All this is profoundly suffocating — not lone for me, but for an full nine that progressively feels voiceless,” helium said.
The Mirwaiz said erstwhile helium was “pressed to marque changes to his societal media profile”, dropping Hurriyat president title, “I was near with small prime but to safeguard the minimal transmission of connection disposable to maine oregon look the hazard of implicit silencing, arsenic adjacent contiguous I americium addressing you done this transmission erstwhile I americium again enactment nether location arrest.”
He said his beliefs and convictions stay unchanged. — not adjacent by a comma. “My commitments to my radical are non-negotiable, rooted successful principles and beliefs that stem from my convictions some arsenic a Muslim and a liable person to people.”
The Mirwaiz said he, irrespective of religion, portion oregon affiliation, highlighted the plight of “our younker and leaders languishing successful jails, and the close of Kashmiri Pandits to instrumentality to their homeland”.
“I admit I whitethorn not ever person succeeded successful my efforts and manner, but my intentions person ever been sincere. The relation I spot for myself inherited from my predecessors and from being the Mirwaiz — is to beryllium a transmission of lasting peace, brotherhood and reconciliation for my radical and the region,” the Mirwaiz said.
