A police spokesperson in Srinagar said FIRs have been registered against Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Massarat Aalam Butt, Muhammad Yakub Vakil, Nissar Hussein Rather and Mushtaq-ul-Islam for “instigating violence and arson which resulted in the gutting of some government offices and public property in Srinagar city on Saturday”. Three FIRs have been registered against the Mirwaiz at police stations Safakadal, Kothibagh and Shergari. “At Safakada, the Mirwaiz, Mr Vakil and Mr Rather and others instigated people to proceed towards Lal Chowk,” the spokesman claimed, adding that his speech at the Idgah grounds here was “highly inflammatory and anti-national in content”. In this connection, an FIR (No. 128/2010) has been lodged against them under Sections 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 148 and 149 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and registered at police station Safakadal.
The Mirwaiz, his aide Mr Vakil, and Mr Rather, a close associate of Mr Geelani and former Hizbollah commander Mushtaq-ul-Islam, have also been accused of instigating people to indulge in acts of arson and damage public property in the course of their speeches at Lal Chowk. An FIR [No. 59/2010] under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 436, 109, 153-A and 156 of the RPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act has been registered against them at police station Kothibagh.
The police said the office of the chief engineer, Power Development Department (Kashmir), and the crime branch HQ were set on fire at the Exhibition intersection here and that in this connection an FIR has been lodged against the Mirwaiz and others under Sections 147, 148, 436, 427 and 153-A of the RPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act at police station Shergari. “It is to be mentioned here that cases of social and public importance like rape and murder, human rights violations, land scams and corruption scandals were under investigation at the crime branch,” a police handout said, implying that the Mirwaiz and others have upset the process.
The police has also filed an FIR against Mr Butt, Mehrajuddin Kalwal, another activist of the Geelani-led Hurriyat faction, and others at police station Nageen under Sections 336, 148, 353, 427, 153A and 436 of the RPC, Sec. 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Sec. 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act. “They had caused disaffection among the public by their speech,” the police said, referring to the incident in which a mob torched an edifice being used by the police as a barrack within the Hazratbal shrine complex here and a police Gypsy soon after the Id prayers. One of these FIRs also claim that men from the crowd which had gathered at Lal Chowk also damaged the Clock Tower at the city centre while putting up “objectionable flags” atop it. “The law will take its course,” the officials said when asked if the Mirwaiz would be arrested for allegedly fuelling violence.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah and J&K DGP Kuldeep Khoda had earlier blamed Saturday’s violence on the Mirwaiz.