Put under house arrest, prevented from offering congregational prayers: Hurriyat chief

Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday claimed that he was put under house arrest and prevented from offering congregational prayers at the Jama Masjid.

This is the second consecutive Friday that the Mirwaiz was allegedly barred from offering the prayers at the Jama Masjid in the city’s Nowhatta locality.

There was no word from police on Farooq’s allegation.

“Again disallowed from going to Jama Masjid on a Friday for the second consecutive week. As I raise people’s issues and concerns from the pulpit, as is my duty, it seems to make the authorities jittery and uncomfortable, so lock him up!” the Hurriyat chairman said in a post on X.

He said “as if by locking me up” the issues would disappear and the reality altered.

“But an authoritarian mindset can’t think beyond… strongly condemn my house arrest and the imprisonment of thousands of Kashmiri prisoners who are victims of this mindset,” Farooq added.