Srinagar: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of the Hurriyat (M) and the head of the Awami Action Committee said that the identity of the masked youth who desecrated the historic Jamia Masjid’s pulpit will be revealed soon.
Speaking during a drive to ‘cleanse’ the pulpit of the mosque, Mirwaiz said the process has been set in motion to unveil the faces of masked youth who desecrated the mosque pulpit.
Amid pro-Islam slogans, Mirwaiz took out a cloth and started the cleansing of Jamia Masjid pulpit while others joined him.
Speaking during the occasion, Mirwaiz said their investigation has begun and the faces and names behind the desecration of Jamia Masjid will be made public soon.
He said some disgruntled elements at the behest of some anti-Islamic agencies by raising black flags on the very sacred pulpit of this grand mosque have hurt the sentiments of the millions of Muslims living here.
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He urged the youth to remain vigilant and defeat the nefarious designs of enemies.
“The incident has led to shock, outrage and deep resentment among people and has deeply hurt their sentiments” Mirwaiz said.
Huge Rally from Mirwaiz Manzil to #JamaMasjid including AAC workers ulemas traders,civil society members others strongly protesting the Jamia incident! At Jamia the mosque especially the pulpit were cleaned as the hooligans had violated it with their shoes ! pic.twitter.com/TQFtU25GXA
— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) January 2, 2019
After the Friday congregational prayers last week, a group of masked boys entered the Jamia Masjid and desecrated the pulpit of the mosque.
The incident took place in Jama Masjid in the afternoon after the namazis had left. In the meantime his associates videotaped it.
In the video which was widely shared on social media, the hooligans can be seen on the Mimbar (Pulpit) of the mosque waving the ISIS flag. They can also be heard chanting slogans in favour of ISIS (Daulat-e-Islam).
Moreover, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti rang Mirwaiz to express her outrage over the incident. However, Hurriyat in a statement called her outrage ‘ironical’ as Friday prayers were barred at the historic mosque most of the time during her rule.
While condemning the Jamia Masjid pulpit desecration, Kashmir Economic Alliance on Tuesday had called for a “collective strategy to foil such nefarious designs”.
