Conflict
‘In 2017, Geelani barred from offering Friday prayers 48 times’
Srinagar: Chairman of the Hurriyat (G) Syed Ali Geelani was not able to attend the Friday congregational prayers due to his continuous house arrest, a spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement said that in 2017, Geelani was stopped 48 times from offering Friday prayers, an important religious obligation.
Meanwhile Tehreek-e-Huriyat General secretary Mohd Ashraf Sehrai continued to remain under the house detention for the third consecutive day and he too was not allowed to offer the Friday prayers, the spokesperson added in a statement, saying that Huriyat spokesman Gh Ahmad Gulzar, Mohd Yusuf Naqash, Mohd Yasin Ataie and Syed Imtiyaz Hyder continue to be lodged in different police stations.
Strongly condemning the house imprisonment of Geelani and other resistance leaders, Hurriyat Conference said the imprisonment of its leaders has ‘no constitutional and moral justification and police is suppressing their peaceful voices just with the barrel of gun.’
Hurriyat said that police has ‘invented a new process of house arrests and banning of political activities of Geelani Sahib and other leaders during 2010 mass uprising in Jammu & Kashmir.’
“Since then police never produced any legal justification for this illegal house arrest process and they never explained that under which act or section of the law is Geelani being imprisoned in his house. This lawlessness continued in the period of Omar Abdullah and now PDP government is following the suite in its rule,” the statement added.
Hurriyat while strongly denouncing the PDP led coalition said that their rhetoric about “battle of ideas” proved a hoax and despite their tall claims about freedom of expression, they are chasing political leaders, strangulating genuine voices, curbing peaceful political activities and implicating and caging youth on fake allegations.
Hurriyat conference slammed PDP regime for misusing PSA and said that Public Safety Act was introduced by late Sheikh Mohd Abdullah saying it would be used against timber smugglers only but later it was misused and used against political opponents.
