Muslims in India experiencing sensitive and testing period: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Moderate separatist voice and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Sunday said Muslims in the country were enduring a “sensitive and testing period” and there was “rising communal polarisation” which has caused anxiety and insecurity within sections of the community.

Bulldozers were being run over mosques, properties of Muslims were being “vandalised” and attacks on Muslims were taking place, the Mirwaiz told reporters after a religious conference in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

“Muslims in the country are also passing through a sensitive and testing period amid rising communal polarisation and circumstances that have caused anxiety and insecurity within sections of the community,” he said, adding that “we have to become the voice of the voiceless.”

The separatist-cum-religious leader said the holy fasting month of Ramzan is arriving at a time when the Muslim world is “facing serious challenges”.

“Killings are continuing in Palestine...Similarly, if we talk about Iran or West Asia, there are attempts to create disturbances. It is concerning. The sufferings of Muslims across regions are deeply distressing,” he said.

The Mirwaiz expressed serious concern over the profiling of mosques and termed it an “unwarranted interference in religious matters.”

He called for an immediate halt to such actions and urged that religious institutions be allowed to function freely and with dignity.

Expressing hope that there will be no “interference” in religious affairs during the holy month, he said the authorities should respect and uphold the religious rights of the people, particularly ensuring that places of worship, including the historic Jamia Masjid Srinagar, function without any obstruction.