Srinagar: A day after former chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti made a phone call to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq over desecration of the historic Jamia Masjid pulpit on Friday by ‘masked goons’, the Hurriyat Conference (M) on Tuesday termed it “quiet ironical.”
In a statement issued here, a spokesman of the amalgam said Mehbooba was broadcasting the call made to Mirwaiz in media for “obvious reasons and “is quiet ironical as it was during her tenure as Chief Minister that the mosque was most barred to people for offering of Friday prayers.”
“In 2016 it was locked down for three months , in 2017 for the first time even Juma tul Vida congregation during Ramadan was not allowed and in 2018 for 16 Friday’s prayers were barred in the mosque! On all these days Mirwaiz was either put under house arrest or in jail as in 2016,” he said.
The Spokesman said if Ms Mufti during her tenure as CM had the same feelings towards Jamia Masjid which she calls “the landmark and most important religious and social institution of Kashmir”, at whose desecration she is “outraged” today, and had she showed the courage to stand up for the religious rights of the Muslims of Valley instead of presiding over the bans and bars on Jamia Masjid, then her “outrage” would at least have been sincere.”