Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Srinagar, Mar 22: Hurriyat Conference (M) has expressed shock over the “bone-chilling details of torture and assault” inflicted upon the young school principal of Awantipora, Rizwan Pandit resulting in his custodial death and said such inhuman killings are intolerable in Kashmir.

The amalgam also expressed deep sorrow over the death of 11-year-old Atif and said loss of life due to the conflict is rising each day.

A Hurriyat (M) spokesperson in a statement issued to GNS said: “Imams and Khateebs all across Kashmiri raised their voice against the brutal murder of young school principal Rizwan and the ongoing arrest spree in the Valley after congregational prayers while at many people came out of Masjids, Shrines, Imam Baras and registered their protest against the ongoing oppression.”

He strongly denouncing barring of Friday congregational prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid for the third week in the ongoing month and caging its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at his residence since last night.

The move has hurt the religious sentiments of thousands of people as Jamia Masjid has been the spiritual and religious epicenter of the people of Kashmir for the past several decades, he said.

A large numbers of forces were deployed outside the grand Masjid since morning and all roads leading to sealed with rolls of concertina wires to ensure nobody reaches the Masjid, he said.

The Hurriyat (M) spokesperson strongly denounced the “ongoing crackdown, mass arrests, slapping of PSAs, shifting resistance leaders to outside jails”.

Kashmir is a political and humanitarian issue that needs to be resolved through sustained dialogue and not by resorting to military might and oppression, he said.