NC, PDP condemn J&K Police for barring funeral prayers of Mirwaiz’s father-in-law at Jama Masjid

Srinagar, Feb 27 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference and opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday criticised police for not allowing funeral prayers of the father-in-law of Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at the Jamia Masjid in the old city.

The authorities sealed the mosque by erecting barricades outside. Security personnel were also deployed.

Police refused to comment on the matter.

Farooq’s father-in-law Ghulam Sibtain Masoodi (80) died here on Wednesday after prolonged illness.

“The decision to disallow the Namaz-e-Janazah of Dr Sibtain Masoodi at Jama Masjid, Srinagar is deeply regrettable and wrong. Such actions are not only regressive but also demonstrate the hollowness of claims of normalcy in the region,” the National Conference said in a statement posted on X.

“It is precisely these kinds of steps that reveal the lack of trust the authorities have in their own assertions of peace and stability. The police in their short-sighted approach, fail to realise that restricting such basic rights only further erodes the trust and goodwill of the people,” it said.

While the NC is the ruling party, the control of police lies with the lieutenant governor of the union territory.

PDP leader Iltija Mufti said it was “cruel” on the part of the authorities to bar the funeral prayers of Masoodi in the old city.

“Unfathomable & cruel that authorities have barred the Namaz-e-Janazah of Mirwaiz sahab’s father in law Dr Ghulam Sibtain Masoodi Sahab at Jama Masjid today. One assumed that after an elected government there’d be some relief but instead they are complicit by their silence which has emboldened GOIs iron fisted policy of repression,” she posted on X.

Masoodi, a doctor by profession, left Kashmir in 1974 for further studies in the US and returned 28 years later. He will be buried at his ancestral graveyard in Khrew in Pulwama district.