Srinagar, Jan 01: Hurriyat-M on Tuesday lashed at chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, saying that her “outrage” at Jama Masjid pulpit desecration was “ironical” as Friday prayers were barred at the historic mosque most of the time during her rule.
In a statement here, a Hurriyat-M spokesman said: “The phone call of Ms Mehbooba Mufti to its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemning the Jama incident which she is broadcasting in media for obvious reasons, is quite ironical as it was during her tenure as CM that the people were barred from offering prayers at the mosque most of the time.”
He said that the mosque was locked down for three months in 2016 and in 2017 for the first time even Jumat-ul-Vida congregation during Ramazan was not allowed, and in 2018 Friday prayers were barred at the mosque on 16 occasions.
“On all these days, Mirwaiz was either put under house-arrest or in jail as in 2016,” said the spokesman.
Refusing to be impressed by Mehbooba Mufti’s “outrage” at the Jama Masjid incident, spokesman said she is the one who as chief minister presided over the bans and bars on Jama Masjid.
“Her ‘outrage’ would have been sincere if Ms Mufti during her tenure as CM has had the same feelings towards Jama Masjid — which she now calls ‘the landmark and most important religious and social institution of Kashmir’, and at whose desecration she is ‘outraged’ today,” Hurriyat-M spokesman said.
Mehbooba had on Monday called Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and expressed outrage at the attempted desecration of the mosque by some masked youth on Friday.
