After 19 Fridays, Hundreds Offer Friday Prayers At Kashmir’s Grand Mosque, Jamia Masjid

After 19 Fridays, the historic Jamia Masjid hosted Friday prayers on December 20, and hundreds of people from various parts of the city turned up to attend. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has been under house arrest since August 5, was not allowed to pray at the mosque.

Jamia Masjid or the Grand Mosque is one of the biggest mosques in Kashmir; Friday sermons delivered by the Mirwaiz- e –Kashmir hold major political significance in Kashmir. Before August 5, the current Mirwaiz, also the head of the separatist group Hurriyat used to deliver weekly sermons from the pulpit of the mosque. Strict restrictions on movement and communication were imposed across Kashmir on August 5; on August 5 and 6, parliament passed laws and resolutions bifurcating the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir into two union territories, and scrapping constitutional provisions that gave the region special status and its residents special privileges.