Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was barred from leading prayers at Jama Masjid in Srinagar on Friday (January 2, 2025) and delivered a sermon online, where he said “the Kashmir conflict continues to keep the region in an unsettled state”.
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The Mirwaiz, who dropped the title ‘Hurriyat chairman’ from X (formerly Twitter), allegedly after pressure from the authorities, has been barred from leading prayers at Jama Masjid for the past two weeks. In his online sermon on Friday (January 2, 2025), posted on social media platforms, the Mirwaiz reflected on the year 2025.
“Despite making unilateral changes in 2019, the reality is that the Kashmir conflict continues to keep the region in an unsettled state that can erupt anytime. That is why wars are paused, not ended, and dialogue finds no takers,” the Mirwaiz said.
Referring to his engagement with leadership of the subcontinent and successive Indian leaderships, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and L.K. Advani, the Mirwaiz said, “I am committed to sincere efforts of dialogue. My path remains the same. Dialogue has worked elsewhere and our hope remains alive. When there is sincere willingness to engage in the spirit of “insaniyataur jamhooriyat”, as Vajpayee ji once said, peace gets the best chance.”
