Srinagar, Nov 4 (KNO): Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Monday condemned restrictions on offering funeral prayers in absentia for Mirwaiz Muhammad Ahmad and stopping him from leaving his home to attend the programme.
In a video posted on X, Mirwaiz, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), asked the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha whether offering funeral prayers and expressing condolences are crime in his "Naya Kashmir".
Notably, patriarch of Mirwaiz family, Mirwaiz Mohammad Ahmad, son of Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah, passed away in Islamabad, Pakistan after a brief illness.
According to a statement issued to KNO funeral prayers in absentia for the deceased would be held at 1 pm in Srinagar's Jama Masjid on today.
"It is unfortunate that I was stopped from offering funeral prayers in absentia for Mirwaiz Muhammad Ahmad while the Auqaf administration was asked that FIR will be filed against them if funeral prayers will he held," Mirwaiz said in the video.
He added that such acts show weakness of the government and the rights including both religious and social rights of people are being violated.
"It is unfortunate that the religious program is being defied by using power. I want to ask the LG whether expressing condolences and offering funeral prayers is a crime in Naya Kashmir," he said, adding that "we strongly condemn the government's actions and it shows how the government is implementing its policies by using force to defy the religious and social events."—(KNO)