Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Wednesday appealed to Mutahida Ulema Council (MUC) to withdraw their 16th March strike call.

Mirwaiz expressed gratitude to MUC, traders’ fraternity and the civil society members for their “support” following a notice issued to him by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

“I request Mutahida Ulema Council to take back the hartal call for 16th March,” he said on Twitter.

On Tuesday, MUC had strongly denounced summoning of Mirwaiz by NIA calling it “direct religious interference, which won’t be tolerated”.

The MUC had appealed people to observe complete shutdown on 16th March (Saturday) as a mark of protest.

On March 9, the NIA sent a notice to Mirwaiz asking him to appear in person before the agency’s court in New Delhi on March 11 in connection with a case filed into alleged funding of militancy in Kashmir.

The Mirwaiz, however, refused to fly to New Delhi citing “hostile security atmosphere”.