Police allows Mirwaiz in Jamia after 15 weeks

Srinagar: Deploring the curbs imposed on Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid, Hurriyat Conference (M) Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday asked New Delhi to come out of denial mode and resolve the Kashmir issue at the earliest.

“The government of India and its puppets in Kashmir are highly mistaken if they think that freedom movement of Kashmiris can be crushed through curfews, restrictions and brute force because past five months of unrest is no aberration. Now the fourth generation of Kashmiris has committed itself to the freedom struggle and it is time for New Delhi to accept these realities and give up its ostrich approach towards this 63-year-old dispute,” Mirwaiz, who offered prayers at the grand mosque after 15 weeks, said.

Mirwaiz said Kashmir was an internationally accepted dispute and could only be resolved by implementing UN resolutions or “purposeful and meaningful” dialogue between India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people.

Slamming the state authorities for repeatedly debarring him from offering Friday prayers and putting the grand mosque under siege, Mirwaiz said “the puppet state government has put dictators like Hitler to shame.”

“The government should know that the pulpit of Jamia Masjid has raised its voice against oppression for centuries, and that putting us under house arrest or locking up this mosque cannot stop it from doing so. Jamia Masjid will continue to represent the aspirations of people,” he said.

Mirwaiz also paid glowing tributes to the 115 people killed in government forces action this summer, vowing not to let the sacrifice of martyrs go waste.