Kashmir’s Islamic scholars seek meeting with L-G over Mirwaiz’s ‘house detention’

The MMU’s letter comes in the wake of the statements made by L-G Sinha in August last year.

Top religious figures of Kashmir have sought a meeting with J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha over the house detention of Valley’s chief cleric and Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who could not deliver his sermon for the 188 th consecutive Friday today.

In a bid to connect with the L-G this month to discuss the detention of the Mirwaiz, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a conglomerate of religious bodies in Kashmir representing different schools of thought, wrote a joint letter to Mr. Sinha on March 13.

“A delegation of the MMU and the Muslim Personal Law Board, Kashmir, led by Mufti Azam J&K Mufti Nasir ul Islam, requests a meeting as per your convenience. We would appreciate the meeting in Srinagar before the commencement of the Holy month of Ramzan. We hope to hear from your office soon, confirming the time and date of the meeting,” the letter reads.

According to the Anjuman Auqaf, a caretaker body of the historic Jamia Masjid, the Mirwaiz is not being allowed to perform his important religious duty of Friday prayer and other official responsibilities even in the blessed month of Ramazan.

The MMU’s letter comes in the wake of the statements made by L-G Sinha in August last year, when he dropped hints at allowing the Mirwaiz to move around freely. “The Mirwaiz needs to decide what he wants to do. He is neither under house arrest nor detained,” Mr. Sinha said in an interview last year.

A spokesman of the Anjuman-e-Auqaf, however, said the L-G’s words “proved to be a statement made in jest and to ward off international pressure”.

Speaking to The Hindu, the Mirwaiz said it’s disappointing that the L-G administration is not allowing him to play the role of the Mirwaiz “to fight social evils like drug addiction, dowry cases, waywardness etc”.