Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference alliance Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was attacked by a group of youth with stones and traditional firepots (kangris) after he had addressed an impulsive rally outside a place of worship in Sopore, 48 km northwest of Srinagar, on Friday.
The Mirwaiz escaped unhurt but some of his supporters surrounding him sustained minor injuries, reports said.
According to witnesses, the Mirwaiz offered Friday prayers and also addressed a huge congregation at Sopore’s Khankah (Khanoah) and later about ten thousand people outside the place of worship amidst chanting of pro-freedom slogans by the crowd.
He demanded immediate demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir saying this would facilitate people living a peaceful and fearless life. A section of the crowd began prodding him to move towards the town’s main square, about 2 km away, in a procession which he refused. This infuriated the youth who hurled stones and other missiles towards the Mirwaiz.
Sopore is a stronghold of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the octogenarian separatist leader who heads the rival faction of the Hurriyat Conference. A police statement issued here in the evening pointed finger of suspicion towards Mr Geelani supporters. Terming the incident “unfortunate and condemnable,” the police said this was yet another manifestation of “hooliganism perpetrated by the elements hellbent to throttle the dissenting voice.”
It added that the same elements had earlier this month ruthlessly beaten a shopkeeper, Tariq Ahmad Butt, in Srinagar’s Gojwara area when he defied their diktat to shutdown his store.
The 26-year-old trader died early this week sparking off widespread protests and strikes by business community in central Srinagar.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah had blamed separatists for the murder and accused them of indulging in ‘hooliganism, highhandedness and muscle power’. He asked separatists to try to seek a political solution to the issues than forcing the people to adhere to their calendar of disturbance and lockouts and thereby making them “victims of hooliganism.” While reacting, Mr Geelani said on Friday that Mr Abdullah was ruling the state at the mercy of police and other security forces and challenged the chief minister to allow him to hold a political rally at Srinagar’s centre square Lal Chowk. “Let there be no curbs on pro-freedom leadership and we will show where we do stand and where does he,” the separatist leader said claiming that the men involved in the December 3 incident were of “suspicious character” and that they had nothing to do with “pro-freedom” camp.