Thirteen youths were arrested on Saturday in a crackdown a day after azaadi slogans were raised inside the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, while two high school students were suspended for “religious sloganeering” in Jammu’s Bhaderwah. Meanwhile, an Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) ‘commander’ was killed in an anti-militancy operation in south Kashmir.
Pro-Islam and pro-azaadi (freedom) slogans were raised at the Jamia Masjid on Friday after the noon prayers. It was for the first time this year that Friday prayers at the 600-year-old mosque were allowed during the holy month of Ramzan. Earlier, the authorities had denied permission for over 30 weeks for prayers at the historic mosque.
The mosque has mostly remained closed on government orders since the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional position in 2019. The chief priest of the mosque, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, also Hurriyat chairman, remains under house arrest since August 2019.
‘Hooliganism in mosque’
“Two main instigators of the sloganeering, Basharat Nabi Bhat from Hawal and Umar Manzoor Sheikh from Bahauddin Saab, were formally arrested in the case. Eleven more accused were subsequently arrested for their involvement in the sloganeering and hooliganism inside the Jamia Masjid and at the gate,” a police spokesman said. The police said they will prepare dossiers for the Public Safety Act (PSA) against the accused. The Act allows for detention of an individual for two years without trial.
A video of sloganeering at the mosque went viral on social media on Friday.
The police said the accused had received instructions from Pakistani handlers of terror outfits in furtherance of a well-planned conspiracy to disrupt Friday prayers in the Jamia Masjid and create a law and order situation by provoking the attendees. “Thus Section 120B was also invoked in this case,” the police said. The police said the investigation in this case is underway at a fast pace and “some more arrests are likely”.
The police also warned that no attempt to use religious places for furthering anti-national and terrorist agenda will be tolerated.
According to official figures, 24,000 worshippers attended the Friday prayers. The police said there was an altercation between the persons indulging in sloganeering and the volunteers of the Jamia Masjid, “who tried to stop such sloganeering and hooliganism”.
“This created a situation of ruckus inside the mosque leading to clashes between them. Later the hooligans were dispersed outside the mosque by volunteers. Even after coming outside from one gate, more than a dozen among them tried to provoke others by sloganeering, which failed and in two to three minutes they dispersed in a hurry, seeing police presence around,” the police said.
In Jammu’s Bhaderwah, two students — Farhan Khan, a Class 12 student, and Naveed Ahmad, a Class 11th student — were accused by the authorities of “vitiating the peaceful atmosphere” of the Boys Higher Secondary School, Bhaderwah.
“Either by raising religious slogans and making unnecessary hurdles and hatred among the students of different communities, they are having a negative impact on proper functioning of the institution. Hence the candidature of both the students is suspended for 15 days,” the college order said.
Militant killed
In an encounter at Sirhama area of Anantnag in south Kashmir on Saturday morning, security forces killed a LeT ‘commander’. The slain person was identified as Nisar Ahmad Dar alias Musaib from Redwani Bala, Kulgam.
“As per police records, the killed terrorist was a categorised terrorist and active since April, 2021. He was involved in several killings of civilians and outside labourers. He was also instrumental in motivating gullible youth to join terror folds thereby attempting to revive the terror folds,” the police said.
Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar termed the killing “a big success as Dar was wanted for his involvement in gruesome terror activities”. The police said incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, were recovered from the encounter site.
In a separate incident, militants escaped from an encounter site at Chaki Samad village of Damhal Hanjipora in Kulgam. The gunfight had started around 4 a.m. when an anti-militancy operation was launched in the area.
