Hurriyat (M) Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was once again placed under house arrest by the government since early morning thereby deliberately restricting his religious social and political activities, in particular preventing him from offering Friday prayers.Mirwaiz, who was scheduled to lead a protest rally against the court order banning beef in Kashmir, addressed the Friday gatherings at historic Jamia Masjid via telephone during which he termed the ban on beef in the state as regrettable, illogical and direct intervention into the religious affairs of the Muslims community, who form the majority in the state. He said that no court can violate or overrule the laws laid down by the sharia and banning the consumption of beef a halal food by the by courts is blatant interference in religion affairs, which will not be tolerated.
Hurriyat (M) Chairman said that court’s decision has hurt and shown disrespect and insensitivity for the religious sentiments of the majority community of the state. Such rulings can vitiate the atmosphere and unnecessarily cause communal stress among communities, something that people of Kashmir have always been against. He stated that Kashmiris have always respected and protected the rights of the minority community, but sadly the communal forces like the BJP/RSS and their ilk are busy in furthering their agenda of polarizing the Kashmiri society and stoking communal fires for petty electoral and political gains . He stated that these forces are constantly conspiring and digging up some means of undermining the Muslim majority character of the state and establishing their hegemony over the state. This will never be allowed he added.
Hurriyat (M) Chairman appealed people to make the strike call given by Hurriyat (M), social, political, religious and trade bodies of Kashmir on September 12 against the court verdict, a success. He said people in Kashmir should send a strong message by observing the shutdown that Muslims of the state will not tolerate any interference in their religious matters.As part of the protest programme, Hurriyat leader GN Zaki led a protest march against the ban on beef from historic Jamia Masjid. Severely denouncing the judgement, Zaki stated that court order tantamount to the usurping of religious rights of Kashmiris. Similarly, another Hurriyat leader GN war led a protest rally in Kupwara against the beef ban.Meanwhile, Hurriyat (M) spokesman has condemned the house arrest of its Chairman and senior Hurriyat leader, Moulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, and arrest of Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Engineer Hilal Ahmad War and Parvez Ahmad by the police and subsequently lodging them in police stations. (KNS)