For the third consecutive week, Friday prayers were not allowed at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid. All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) said its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was once again not allowed to leave his residence to lead the Friday prayers as the mosque remained shut. “Repeated closure of the historic Jama Masjid and house detention of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are reminders of the situation in J&K and its fragile ‘normalcy’,” said APHC, adding, “if the reason (for closure) is a fear that the people of Kashmir will express their support and solidarity with the people of Palestine, who are being bombed by Israel, it will be there for them as fellow humans and Muslims. Kashmiris stand with the people of Palestine irrespective of the bans and restrictions on them.” APHC also stated that war can never buy peace and it only leads to destruction and creates more “mistrust, insecurities and cruelties”. Farooq’s home detention ended on September 22, after four years and he had led the prayers the same day. In a statement on October 11, he had expressed “anguish and grief” at the loss of lives in the latest escalation in the Palestinian-Israel conflict.
