New Delhi: The high court has granted the J&K administration “last and final opportunity” to respond to a habeas corpus petition challenging the “illegal confinement” of All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
The moderate Hurriyat chairman had approached the court in September last year to challenge his “arbitrary and illegal” detention after August 5, 2019, when Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated and downgraded into a union territory.
A single judge Bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal observed on Monday (February 19) that the court had granted time till February 2 for J&K’s senior additional Advocate General, Mohsin Qadri, to file the state’s objections to Mirwaiz’s petition.
The court said that it was taking up the matter “reluctantly” and “out of turn” as the J&K administration had not responded to the petition so far. “One week’s time as prayed for is granted for doing the needful, which however, shall be the last and final opportunity,” the court noted, while listing the matter for hearing on March 6.
The court added: “It is made clear, if reply is not filed, then the matter will be heard on the next date of hearing,” it added.
Senior advocate and Mirwaiz’s counsel Nazir Ahmad Ronga said that he had sought directions for Mirwaiz’s release and urged the court for “non-interference with his personal liberty by the state”, “We have sought restoration of the rights guaranteed by the constitution,” Ronga told The Wire.
Mirwaiz was allowed to deliver his first sermon in more than four years on September 22 last year after the J&K administration lifted the curbs on his Srinagar residence as well as the Jamia Masjid, Kashmir’s biggest mosque, where the moderate Hurriyat leader delivers sermons on Fridays and other important days in the Islamic calendar.
The development came a week after the high court directed the state to file objections within four weeks to Mirwaiz’s habeas corpus petition which has alleged that the Hurriyat leader was subjected to “illegal confinement in a most unjustified and illegal manner”.
However, the curbs were reimposed soon afterwards, reportedly to prevent anti-Israel and pro-Palestine protests at the historical mosque which was an epicentre of anti-India and pro-freedom sentiment before authorities clamped down on protesters in the aftermath of the Article 370 move.
Curbs also returned to Mirwaiz’s house in the Nigeen locality of Srinagar and he was allegedly stopped from praying at the mosque afterwards. An aide of Mirwaiz said that he was allowed to attend three consecutive Friday congregations in Jamia masjid following the release.
“Since then he has been prevented from going to Jamia Masjid on Fridays or addressing the faithful in any other mosque or religious congregations as the Mirwaiz. Whenever we approached the authorities, they have dilly dallied on the response, saying they will check with their higher ups and get back, which they never do,” he said.
The aide said that the Hurriyat leader has been allowed to attend family emergencies or social functions. “But these visits have been few and far between. We have to seek permission from the local police 24 hours in advance,” said the aide.
The moderate Hurriyat leader also recently visited the national capital reportedly due to some “family reasons”, “No one had a problem with him going to New Delhi. They are happy to see him out of Kashmir,” said the aide.
An official of Anjuman Auqaf Jama Masjid (AAJM), the managing body of the historical mosque, said that the authorities stopped Mirwaiz from attending the recent Shab-e-Mehraj prayers which commemorates the mystical flight of Prophet Mohammad, Islam’s most-revered prophet, to the heaven.
“As the holy month of Ramzan is approaching when there are multiple religious events and congregations planned for Mirwaiz, this approach of the authorities is concerning,” said the AAJM official.
As the chief cleric of Kashmir, Mirwaiz used to preside over matters of Islamic jurisprudence in Srinagar, besides leading the Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar’s Nowhatta which hosts the biggest congregational prayers on important religious days, and other religious functions.
While J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has claimed that Mirwaiz was “free to go wherever he wishes”, the Hurriyat leader, who was part of the Track-2 dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad on Kashmir, told the court that he was put under house arrest “illegally without serving of any order of detention”
“He has not been even informed as to why he has been detained nor has any ground of detention been provided to him,” the petition filed in the high court, notes.