Indian authorities seal Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for second consecutive week
Kashmiris denied Juma-tul-Vida prayers at historic mosque for 7th year in a row: Mirwaiz
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the administration under New Delhi-appointed Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has sealed the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for the second consecutive week, preventing Kashmiri Muslims from offering the Juma-tul-Vida prayers.
According to Kashmir Media Service, authorities barred all access routes with barbed wire and locked the mosque’s doors. Eyewitnesses said the grand mosque, located in the Nowhatta area of the city, remained closed to worshippers on the occasion of Juma-tul-Vida.
Senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in a post on X, said that for the seventh consecutive year, the Jamia Masjid has been sealed during Juma-tul-Vida, denying Kashmiri Muslims their right to pray.
The Mirwaiz drew a parallel with Israel’s actions at Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, saying, “Just as the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque are forcibly sht during Ramadan, a similar painful reality is being witnessed in Srinagar.”
He questioned the occupation authorities, asking why this most important center of Kashmiris’ religious identity was “repeatedly targeted and people’s fundamental right to religious practice curbed when tall claims of normalcy are trumpeted every day.”
Meanwhile, Anjuman Auqaf of Jamia Masjid, Srinagar, in a statement issued in Srinagar strongly condemned the continued closure of the historic Jamia Masjid on the occasion of Jumat-ul-Vida, when tens of thousands of devotees traditionally gather from towns and villages to offer congregational prayers and supplications.
It said authorities once again locked the gates of the historic mosque from all sides and placed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest.
