Separatist leader and Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq will be allowed to offer Friday prayers at Srinagar's Jamia Masjid after four years of house arrest since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. He was released from house arrest on Friday, officials have told news agency PTI.
The officials from the Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid -- the management committee of the mosque -- said he would be allowed to take part in the Friday congregational prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in the Nowhatta area.
"Senior police officials visited the residence of the Mirwaiz on Thursday to inform him that the authorities have decided to release him from house detention and allow him to go to Jamia Masjid for Friday prayers," the Auqaf said in a statement.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads various religious organisations and is the chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, was released days after he moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
Last week, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had issued a notice to the union territory administration seeking its response on a petition filed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq over his house arrest since August 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370.
Farooq’s lawyer, Nazir Ahmad Ronga said the court has given four weeks’ time to the administration to file its response.
The separatist leader filed a writ petition in the high court “seeking an order, or direction upon the respondents (state authorities) to release the petitioner (Mirwaiz) from 'illegal and unauthorised detention' as the petitioner has been detained/ house arrested at his Nigeen residence without any order or authority in law”, news agency PTI reported.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre stripped the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and bifurcated it into two union territories.
Several petitions challenging abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split the erstwhile state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh- were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019.