The Jammu and Kashmir administration allowed a Muharram procession in Srinagar’s city centre on Thursday for the first time after the outbreak of militancy over three decades ago, making a fresh outreach to Shias but also facing uncomfortable questions over the ban on some large Sunni gatherings.

A large number of Shia mourners joined the 8th Muharram procession early on Thursday, carrying religious banners and raising religious slogans as it passed through the heart of the city on the Guru Bazar-to-Dalgate route amid tight security.

While Shia processions outside the city centre have largely faced no restrictions during the last three-and-a-half decades, it had become a ritual for the administration to use force against the mourners who would defy restrictions and take part in the procession in the city’s Lal Chowk area — which routinely metamorphosed into pro-freedom gatherings.

Thursday’s procession was not only peaceful but saw no pro-azaadi sloganeering. Many in Kashmir believe the administration’s decision was a ploy to woo the minority Shias. The BJP has been accused in the past of creating sectarian and ethnic divisions among Jammu and Kashmir’s Muslims, who form around 70 per cent of its population.