Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was allegedly put under house arrest on Friday over fears of protests against the violence in Sambhal town of Uttar Pradesh and court-directed surveys of mosques and shrines.
The Mirwaiz said that as he was leaving home for the Friday prayers and sermon at the Jamia Masjid here, he was verbally informed that he was under arrest and would not be allowed to go. The Hurriyat leader also posted on his X handle a picture of the police deployment outside his home.
“Is it related to the 32nd anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition today and the wave of Masjid and Shrine surveys that we raised our voice against? Anyone’s guess,” he posted.
The Anjuman Auqaf Committee, which looks after the Jamia masjid, condemned the Mirwaiz’s house arrest, calling it unjust and an infringement on religious freedom.
The police did not react to the Mirwaz's claims of being under house arrest or its purported connection to the developments in other parts of the country.
The November 24 violence in Sambhal that killed four people and the court-directed survey of the Ajmer Sharif dargah and other mosques have triggered outrage in Jammu and Kashmir, with top politicians here accusing the BJP-led central government and former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandruchud of opening the floodgates of survey pleas.
The Mirwaiz recently criticised such surveys and warned of a backlash.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday expressed outrage at such incidents and said India was no longer the country its founding fathers had envisaged.