Srinagar, July 18 (IANS) Senior religious and separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house arrest on Friday as he said authorities did not allow him to deliver his weekly sermon at the Jamia Masjid in old city Srinagar.

Mirwaiz Umar said on X: “For second consecutive Friday I remain under house detention — with every lane and by-lane to my residence barricaded, causing inconvenience to the entire neighbourhood.

“Let me make it clear to the rulers , the memory of our martyrs cannot be regulated by them. It resides in our hearts . Facts and history cannot be erased by lockdowns and barring people from visiting the martyrs graveyards or stopping me from going to Jama Masjid on Fridays , not by appeasing narratives or shameful communal distortions, if it resides in the collective memory of people, which it does.

“The Martyrs of July 13, 1931 were the frontrunners of the political movement in Kashmir; a people’s just struggle against oppression. They are and will remain our inspiration.”

It must be recalled that the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has banned Awami Action Committee headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq as an anti-national organisation stoking anti-India feelings and inciting youth to violence.

The Awami Action Committee was formed in 1963 by Mirwaiz Maulana Mohammad Farooq, the father of Mirwaiz Umar, during the holy Relic agitation in Kashmir.

After terrorists killed Mirwaiz Maulana Mohammad Farooq in his city outskirts Nigeen residence in 1990, Mirwaiz Umar came to head the Awami Action Committee.

Traditionally, each Friday, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq delivers the weekly sermon at the Jamia Masjid in old Srinagar city Nowhatta area.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq heads his own faction of the separatist Hurriyat conference that split into the so-called hardline group headed by late Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the moderate group headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in 2003.

–IANS

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