SRI NAGAR: India has imposed a ban on mourning processions and congregations in its held Kashmir, depriving the Muslims residing in the valley of observing youm-e-ashur (to commemorate supreme sacrifices rendered by Hazrat Imam Hussain Razi Allah ho Ta’ala Anho and his companions in Karbala).
According to the Kashmir media service, the local administration has imposed restrictions to carry out Muharram processions at any place.
The authorities have been forbidding the people from gathering under Section 144 CrPc, empowering the executive magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four people, Kashmir-based newspaper reported.
The security forces have covered all the routes with barbed wires and containers, besides erecting barriers to prevent mourners from taking out mourning processions.
Meanwhile, heavy contingent of military troops and police personnel have also been deployed in the Muslim majority valley to ensure the implementation of ‘Section 144’.
The mourners have been stranded at their homes while some of the religious leaders have reportedly been detained in defiance to the orders.
Fear of violence
A Policeman stands near a barbed wire in Srinagar.
Over such restrictions, police claimed to have received intelligence inputs about political leaders to deliver inciting speeches and provoking the public to resort to violence.
Barbed wires have been placed on the main arteries of the valley to prevent pedestrian and vehicular movement.
The procession is traditionally carried out by the Muslims across the world on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram.
Moreover, such restrictions in the valley are not only depriving the Muslims in Kashmir of their religious and social rights but also giving a negative message to the world about India’s secularism.
