Kashmiri leaders on Friday expressed apprehension of an assault on India’s secular character and warned of another partition or backlash over the Sambhal violence and other relatednissues.

Addressing a large crowd at Jamia Masjid here, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq took off the velvet gloves and accused the Centre of orchestrating the surveys of Muslim religious places.

The closure of Jamia Masjid for major prayers on multiple occasions coupled with Mirwaiz’s house detention for years since the scrapping of the special status in 2019 had prompted him to tone down his speeches.

The Hurriyat leader, who is also Kashmir’s chief cleric, on Friday said the court-ordered surveys of Muslim religious sites, including Ajmer Dargah, and the Waqf Amendment Bill had prompted Muslims to wonder whether there was collusion between the government and courts.

“We want to tell the government to realise the seriousness of the issue and change your mindset. God forbid, if there is a backlash over such incidents and the situation worsens, its entire responsibility will lie on the government. It is because you are doing such things deliberately,” the Mirwaiz told the crowd.

Hinting at an assault on centuries-old Muslim religious places and Waqf properties in the country, the Mirwaiz said: “We do not understand how a court can order a survey on somebody’s plea (without the government’s complicity). This is shameful.”

“We want to ask whether it (India) is not a secular country. Does the Indian Constitution not talk about safeguarding the Muslims? Is the Constitution not safeguarding the Places of Worship Act? Why are such situations that will increase hatred created again and again?” he added.

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said initially the Hindutva brigade was looking for shivlings in mosques but now they had extended the campaign to revered Muslim shrines.

“More so, Ajmer Sharif shrine, with which more Hindus than Muslims have faith. It is an 800-year-old shrine. I think they will then look for it (shivling) in Muslim homes. It is taking the country towards partition and bloodshed... just like we saw five innocents were killed in Sambhal,” she said.

Mehbooba said Mahatma Gandhi had sacrificed his life and leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad and Vallabhbhai Patel worked hard to protect the secular character of this country.

“Those (secular) foundations are being shaken. Hindus and Muslims are to fight each other (while) they have no jobs to give or create better facilities in schools and hospitals,” Mehbooba said, adding that there was an attempt to create a situation that prevailed during the Partition.

Srinagar MP and National Conference leader Aga Ruhullah Mehdi said a war was being waged on Muslims. He said the current regime was rewarding the killings of Muslims.