Srinagar: The Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir and the senior leader of Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam while strongly reacting to the three-year-long detention of the MMU founder & patron Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Dr Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq has demanded his immediate release.
All leading religious, social and academic personalities, including the Grand Mufti and the civil society are strongly demanding the release of Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir on the completion of his three years of unjustified, illegal and arbitrary detention so that he could fulfill his responsibilities toward Kashmiri society and people.
In his special statement, Mufti Azam said that apart from his personality as the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Dr Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq is a beloved leader of the people and his house arrest brings great pain and agony among the masses and is hurting the emotions and sentiments of one and all.
The Grand Mufti questioned that “according to the rulers, if the situation in Kashmir has changed after August 5, 2019, then is it the result of this change by keeping the historical Jama Masjid Srinagar closed under various pretexts and preventing the Muslims of Kashmir from praying and worshipping in this central place of worship?”.
Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam said that disallowing prayers on the auspicious and significant occasions of Jumma-tul-Vida and Eid-ul-Adha has never happened before in his knowledge. Such incidents will be written in black letters in history because such actions are tantamount to sheer interference in religion, he added.
The Grand Mufti said that along with ensuring the immediate release of Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir, the central Jama Masjid Srinagar should also be kept open so that he can fulfill the official duties that the Institution of Mirwaiz enjoins upon him.