SRINAGAR: India has barred any solidarity protest in Muslim-majority Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and asked Muslim preachers not to mention the war in their sermons, Arab News reported on Wednesday.
Analysts blamed Indian extremist Prime Minister Narendra Modi for these restrictions to curb freedom of speech and expression in India and IIOKJ. They added that such acts exposed the brutality of Indian government in the IIOJK.
Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told Arab News that from the Muslim perspective, the issue of Palestine is very dear to them, and they essentially have to raise their voice against the oppression there. He added that they were forced to be silent. The Hurriyat leader said he has been put under house arrest each Friday since the start of the war in Gaza to prevent him from leading Friday prayers at the main mosque in the valley.
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According to media reports anti-India sentiment runs high in the IIOJK. In 2019, India also removed the valley’s special status, harshly curbing any form of opposition, civil liberties and freedoms of media.
People in IIOJK have long expressed strong solidarity with the people of Palestine and regularly staged large anti-Israel protest demonstrations during last war in Gaza. Those protests often turned into clashes, with demands for an end of New Deli’s rule.
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Even beyond IIOJK, India have largely prevented protest demonstrations expressing solidarity with people of Palestine since the war started. Many people have been arrested by police for taking part in pro-Palestinian rallies. But in IIOJK, enforced silence is seen not only as breaching freedom of expression and speech but also as impinging on religious responsibility.
Aga Syed Mohammad Hadi, a religious leader in IIOJK, said that he was not able to lead the past three Friday prayers as he was under house arrest. He further said he had wanted to hold a protest rally against the aggression of Israel.
