No namaz allowed at Kashmir Valley shrine

Srinagar: A day after Jammu and Kashmir was formally split up into two Union Territories, the police on Friday used force to disperse a religious gathering at a Sufi shrine in Srinagar. The cops also thrashed reporters and photographers covering the incident.

The police also did not allow Friday congregation in the nearby Grand Mosque for the 13th consecutive Friday. As devotees — both men and women — began converging at and around the shrine in the city’s Khawaja Bazaar area to offer Khoji Diggar (special late afternoon prayers), the police swung into action and used bamboo sticks and fired teargas canisters to disperse them.

The shrine is dedicated to Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari (1318-1389), the Bukhara (Uzbekistan)-born founder of what would become one of the largest and most influential Sufi Muslim orders, the Naqshband. Traditionally, large number of women devotees also joins Khoji Diggar, the main ritual of the annual Urs at the shrine premises.

The policemen also prevented media persons from covering the incident. At least one photographer was injured in the police action, witnesses said.

Police action evoked anger among the residents. A woman devotee, Hafiza, said, “This is unfortunate that the policemen didn’t allow us to offer namaz. Yes, it was done by J&K police, our own J&K policemen.”

The authorities had earlier re-imposed restrictions under Section 144 CrPC in a few areas of central Srinagar “as a precautionary measure to prevent breach of peace.”

Meanwhile, a private car owned by a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Abid Hussain Khan, was torched by unknown persons in the Valley’s southern Kulgam district on Friday. Hr is the BJP’s district secretary in Bonagam village of Kulgam.

The police said “miscreants” set Mr Khan’s vehicle on fire at around 1.20 am when it was parked outside his house. A car belonging to another resident, Imtiyaz Ahmed, was also damaged in the incident, the police said.