Srinagar: Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said he was placed under house detention for the second consecutive week, with security barricades blocking every lane leading to his Nigeen residence. He condemned the move as an attempt to suppress public memory and political history.
“For the second consecutive Friday I remain under house detention — with every lane and by-lane to my residence barricaded, causing inconvenience to the entire neighbourhood,” Mirwaiz said in a statement.
He said the memory of Kashmir’s martyrs cannot be “regulated by rulers.” “It resides in our hearts. Facts and history cannot be erased by lockdowns, by barring people from visiting martyrs’ graveyards, or by stopping me from going to Jama Masjid on Fridays,” he said.
Mirwaiz said the sacrifices of July 13, 1931 martyrs — who laid down their lives outside Central Jail Srinagar, remain etched in public memory. “They were the frontrunners of the political movement in Kashmir; a people’s just struggle against oppression. They are and will remain our inspiration,” he said.
He also criticised what he called “appeasing narratives” and “shameful communal distortions,” stating that they cannot override the collective memory and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
