SRINAGAR: Kashmir’s chief priest Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday condemned the administration’s decision to disallow night-long Shab-e-Qadr prayers at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.
In a post on X, the Mirwaiz said the authorities had conveyed to the mosque management committee that the masjid would be closed to the people for the Laila-tul-Qadar prayers on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.
“It is extremely regrettable and condemnable that the insensitivity of those in power will deprive tens of thousands of Muslims, who for generations visit Jamia Masjid on this night, of spiritual solace and worship, causing them and me great grief and dismay,” the Mirwaiz said. “Preventing people from offering prayers at the Jamia Masjid on this holy night is deeply painful,” he added.
Mehbooba said the decision belied claims of normalcy in Kashmir. “The shutdown of Jamia Masjid on the sacred night of Laila-tul-Qadr represents another example of collective punishment imposed on Kashmiris. The govt which claims & celebrates that it has eradicated separatism persists in viewing every Kashmiri as a potential separatist. Their false narrative of having restored total normalcy is exposed when a historic mosque is closed off to worshippers on a night so deeply cherished by all,” she said.
Last year, too, the Srinagar Jamia Masjid was closed for Shab-e-Qadr after authorities did not allow night-long prayers there for security reasons.