The Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-headed Hurriyat on Wednesday contested the remarks made by Union Minister for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy in the Parliament, on political detentions in Kashmir.
Referring to the statement where Mr. Reddy said no political leader had been under house arrest in J&K after August 5, 2019, a spokesperson of the Hurriyat said, “A police vehicle is permanently stationed outside the Mirwaiz’s residence since August 2019, which does not allow him to move out. If that is not house arrest, then what is?”
The Hurriyat claimed that the Mirwaiz completed one-and-a-half years under house detention on February 5 and “is even denied to perform his religious rights being the head priest of J&K”.
“Mr. Farooq is not only a political leader of international repute, but also a Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir, the religious and spiritual leader of Kashmir. He is even disallowed from delivering the Friday sermon at the historic Jamia Masjid, a tradition being followed for centuries,” the spokesperson said.
The Hurriyat termed the statements made on detentions in Parliament “misleading”. “The authorities should immediately end the house detention of the Mirwaiz and release unconditionally all those political prisoners, youth, civil society members, journalists, and the respectable members of the society who were arrested on the eve of August 5, 2019. Scores are lodged in J&K and other jails of India, including Tihar Jail, Kotbhalwal Jail, Jodhpur Jail, Agra Jail, Amphalla Jail and Haryana Jail,” the spokesperson said.
