NIA interfering in religious affairs, say J&K bodies
SRINAGAR : A day after Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq refused to appear before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi, various religious and trade bodies on Tuesday termed the summons to the leader as ““direct interference in our religious affairs”.
The NIA had on Saturday summoned Mirwaiz and Syed Naseem Geelani, son of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, to Delhi on Monday for questioning in connection with a 2017 terror-funding case.
Mirwaiz’s counsel Ajaz Ahmad Dhar, in a letter to the NIA, cited various reasons, including security concerns, for the Hurriyat Conference leader not appearing at the New Delhi office of the agency.
Besides heading the moderate Hurriyat, Mirwaiz is also the chief cleric of Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid where he delivers weekly sermons. Mutahida Majlis Ulema (MMU), a body of religious scholars headed by Mirwaiz, held a convention against the NIA summons to the Hurrriyat leader as well as the ban on Jamaat-e-islami and called for a shutdown on Saturday. “The NIA’S decision to call him (Mirwaiz) to Delhi for questioning is thoughtless and inappropriate. We condemn this. It is interference in our religion,” said Mufti Nasirul Islam, grand mufti of Jammu and Kashmir and part of the MMU.
He said the NIA could complete legal requirement, if any, regarding Mirwaiz, in Srinagar and not Delhi.
“The NIA moves will lead to law and order problems. People will come out on roads and the situation could go out of hands,” he said.various trade bodies, like Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Kashmir Economic Alliance and others also condemned the “repeated harassment of leaders, institutions and organisations” in Kashmir.
“Mirwaiz is the religious head of the state. Besides being Mirwaiz (chief cleric) of J&K, his family has been with the people of Kashmir for centuries. They have remained the torch bearers, providing platform for education, inculcating spiritual and moral values…,” said KCCI vice president Abdul Hamid Mir.