SRINAGAR: Released from house arrest after over four years, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said people like him were peace promoters, not separatists or disrupters.
He pitched for dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue at the prayers at Kashmir’s grand mosque, Jamia Masjid. The Mirwaiz criticised the reading down of Article 370 saying it was an assault on Kashmiri identity, adding harsh and unilateral decisions of disempowerment were taken by the administration.
Terming Kashmir as a human problem and not a territorial tug of war, the Mirwaiz said, “We in Hurriyat believe that a part of J&K is in India, a part with Pakistan and some part with China. All these comprise J&K as it existed in August 1947. Its people are divided by an artificial line. This issue has to be addressed through dialogue.”
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that ‘today’s era must not be of war,’ in the context of the Ukraine invasion, he said it applies to Kashmir too. The police guard deployed outside his residence was withdrawn and he was allowed to move out. A senior police officer visited his residence on Thursday and informed him that restrictions on his movement had been lifted.
The Mirwaiz was under house arrest since August 4, 2019, a day before the Centre abrogated J&K’s special status, withdrew its statehood and reduced it to two Union Territories. As he left his home and reached Jamia Masjid, a large number of people welcomed him with slogans of “Sher Aaya, Mirwaiz Aaya (lion Mirwaiz has come), making him emotional. He broke down on reaching the pulpit. “These four years were the worst period of my life after my father’s death. Being here is a very emotional moment for me,” he said.