‘Respect people’s right to peaceful protest’: Mirwaiz says detention of mourners in J&K unwarranted

Srinagar, Mar 4: Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Wednesday said the authorities should respect the right to peaceful protest, and demanded release of those detained during the protests against the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The right to peaceful protest and expression of wounded sentiments must be respected. Reports of protesters and mourners, including women and minors, being detained are unfortunate and unwarranted. As is the filing of FIRs and the withholding of social media accounts of local news outlets for covering protests, under enforcement laws of the land,” the Mirwaiz said in a post on X.

He commended the unity shown by Muslims across Jammu and Kashmir by condemning the events in Iran.

“From the Valley of Kashmir to Pir Panjal and Jammu, (there is) unity in grief and condemnation over the events in Iran.

It reflects the living moral conscience of our society, standing firmly against oppression and unwaveringly with the oppressed. The shutdown observed across the region is a peaceful and powerful expression of that solidarity,” he said.

The Mirwaiz said the authorities should release all those detained and “seriously review their policy of continued censorship and punishment for exercising freedom of expression”. (PTI)