Yasin Malik, chief of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) was arrested on Thursday in order to prevent him from leading protests against the desecration of the Jamia Masjid’s pulpit by masked youth last week.
A JKLF spokesman said that a police party raided the Abi Guzar office of Malik and detained him. “Malik sahib was taken to Kothi Bagh police station,” he said.
Addressing the media before his arrest, Malik cautioned the youth against divisions being engineered in the society. He termed his arrest as shocking.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Awami Action Committee has asked people to observe January 4 (Friday) as ‘Youm-e-Taqadus’. It has asked resistance leadership and religious leaders to address people at the historic mosque tomorrow and condemn the act of sacrilege.
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”.
