Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Wednesday said he was planning to organise a meeting of clergy across Jammu and Kashmir to campaign against the State government’s alleged move to track activities of imams in the Valley.
“Any decision to track activities of imams is direct interference in religious duties. It is a serious issue against which the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema will call a State-wide conference. A strategy will be devised to counter any such move,”the Mirwaiz, who is also the Valley’s head priest, said.
The statement comes amid media reports that the security agencies have been asked to keep close eye on the activities of imams and enlist them. The government dismissed the reports as “baseless” in the State Assembly on Wednesday.
However, the Mirwaiz claimed authorities were starting to crackdown on mosques and the clergy, “forcing them to either shut down or follow their diktats.”
“It’s Ulema’s [Islamic scholar] responsibility to persuade people towards religion and religious duties. They were duty-bound to delve on issues of public interest, including the day to day problems faced by them,” he added.
The spokesperson for the Opposition National Conference, Junaid Azim Mattu, also lashed out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the PDP-BJP government for starting an “extensive policy of putting imams under surveillance.”
“Ms. Mufti is trying to be more loyal than the King. Her anti-Muslim and anti-Islam statements have fuelled the fire of Islamophobia,” Mr. Mattu said.
