Saturday 27th Jul, 2024
Congregational prayers were not allowed at Jamia Masjid on Friday for the second consecutive week as the authorities sealed the area to prevent protests against the killing of slain Lashkar chief Abu Ismail.
Hurriyat (M) chairman and chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who addresses faithful every Friday, who was placed under house arrest last night, denounced the government move to disallow weekly congregational prayers.
Authorities imposed restrictions in areas falling under the jurisdiction of five police stations today to thwart protests against the killings of Ismail and his aide Abu Qasim in a brief gunfight with forces in Nowgam area on the outskirts of Srinagar yesterday.
All roads leading to the historic mosque were sealed by rolls of concertina wires, witnesses said. No one was allowed to cross the barricades, they said.
Mirwaiz termed the lockdown as a move to break the resolve of people in Downtown Srinagar.
Time and again #JamaMasjid locked Down, downtown people caged by the Govt raising the “law and order bogey”. Actually it reflects their paranoia of the fearlessness and courage of the people of downtown city whose resolve they cannot break (sic),” tweeted Mirwaiz.