National Conference leader Omar Abdullah welcomed the central government’s decision to allow the Muharram procession on the traditional route in Jammu and Kashmir.
THis time, the centre allowed the procession to pass through traditional route via Lal Chowk after more than three decades. Moreover, he also demanded the release of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from house arrest and permission for prayers at Jamia Masjid.
“We welcome this decision. At the same time, we hope that the government takes other steps as well. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is a religious leader and he should be released. Prayers should be allowed at Jamia Masjid without any curbs and Red prayer should be allowed at Eidgah,” Abdullah told PTI.
Abdullah walked from his residence on Gupkar road to his office at Nawa-i-Subah due to massive traffic snarls in the city due to early morning Muharram procession.
“I thought it better to walk to the office as the presence of my security vehicles would have caused more inconvenience to the people,” he said.
He also criticised the central government for not holding elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The former state chief minister said BJP was scared of facing the electorate.
“Election commission has itself said that there is a vacuum in Jammu and Kashmir which needs to be filled. We told them if you cannot hold Assembly polls separately, then hold the polls together with Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Jammu and Kashmir: Muharram procession to pass through traditional route on Thursday
After a restriction for more than thirty years, the authorities have allowed the 8th Muharram procession to pass through its traditional route on Thursday.
The administration had granted two-hour permission to the procession to be carried out between 6 am to 8 am. The traditional route passes from Shaheed Gunj to Dalgate. Notably, the route was thrown out of bounds for the processions in the backdrop of the law and order situation since 1989.
The administration put all security arrangements in place to prevent any law and order situation during processions.
There was a long pending request to carry the eighth procession through its traditional route be fulfilled this time. To manage the traffic in working hours and the procession, the permission was granted between 6 am to 8 am, said Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar Bidhuri on Wednesday.
Significantly, a day earlier, the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar chaired a high-level meeting to discuss arrangements for Muharram.
THe administration took special care of managing religious processions, crowd management, preventing any untoward incidents and maintaining a peaceful environment, and traffic.
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Updated: 27 Jul 2023, 02:39 PM IST
