Authorities disallow Ashura processions, Friday prayers in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: In occupied Kashmir, the authorities did not allow carrying out Ashura processions in Srinagar on Friday, after subjecting the mourners to brute force and arresting scores of them including Hurriyat leaders who were scheduled to lead the processions.

Friday prayers also could not be held at the historic Jamia Masjid and other mosques in the city due to restrictions.

The authorities had created curfew-like situation in Nowhatta, Khanyar, Safa Kadal, Maharaj Gunj, Kothibagh and Rainawari areas while deploying Indian troops and paramilitary personnel in strength across the city. However, hundreds of mourners defying restrictions reached Lal Chowk and tried to take out an Aashura procession.

Indian police arrested several of them including Hurriyat leader, Nisar Hussain Rathar, near Badshah Chowk. The police subjected to brute force another procession taken out from Aabi Guzar area. Some mourners were reportedly injured in the police action. The traditional Muharram procession has been banned in Srinagar since 1989.

Watch: Kashmir youth raises Pakistan flag in Srinagar’s Islamia college

Meanwhile, thousands of mourners including women participated in big Ashura processions in Budgam and other areas of the territory.

Senior APHC leader and the President of Anjuman Sharie Shian, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi, led one such procession that started from Baab-ul-ilm Mirgund and culminated at Markazi Imambara in Budgam.

Earlier, the authorities placed the chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest in Srinagar. He was scheduled to deliver a sermon in Narwara area of city on the occasion of Ashura and pay tributes to Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and other martyrs of Karbala.

The police arrested the Chairman of Islami Tanzeem-e-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir, Abdul Samad Inqilabi, after raiding his house in Pattan area of Baramulla on Thursday night. The police also vandalized the household goods and harassed the inmates.

The President of Jammu and Kashmir Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen Maulana Masroor Abbas addressing a Muharram procession in Srinagar said that popular martyred youth leader, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, was a martyr for every Kashmiri and those who sacrificed their lives for the Kashmir freedom movement were an inseparable part of the mission of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA).

He said this while reacting to the reports that the Indian police is mulling to arrest the mourners who raise the portrait of Burhan Wani during the ongoing Muharram processions.

Hurriyat leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Hilal Ahmed War and Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, in their statements welcomed Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan’s offer to India to resume talks for settling all outstanding issues between the two countries including the Kashmir dispute. Hurriyat leader, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza, addressed a gathering at Akingam Achabal in Islamabad.