Kashmiri leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq freed from 4-year unlawful house arrest

The Indian government has freed Kashmir’s prominent pro-independence leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq after more than four years of unlawful house arrest. 

The 50-year-old chairman of the Hurriyat Conference M (APHC-M) had been detained, along with other political leaders and activists, when New Delhi, after seven decades, revoked the special status of Kashmir following the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 provisions in a bid by the Indian government to impose full control over the semi-autonomous Muslim-majority region.

Under a draconian law passed by the Indian government, known as the Public Safety Act, Indian authorities have been granted unlawful permission for arbitrary detention of anyone deemed as a threat. 

The arbitrary detention, which lacks due process and the legal protections of a fair trial, lasts up to six months.

On Friday, cheerful crowds headed to the main mosque in Srinagar, the capital city of Indian-controlled Kashmir, to greet Mirwaiz. 

The APHC-M leader, who has been released after four years of illegal house arrest, was greeted by the crowds as he entered Srinagar’s centuries-old Jamia Masjid to lead the Friday prayers.

“Senior police officials visited the residence of the Mirwaiz on Thursday to inform him that the authorities have decided to release him from house detention and allow him to go to Jamia Masjid for Friday prayers,” the officials from the Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid – the management committee of the mosque – said in a statement on Friday.

The release of Mirwaiz, who heads various religious organizations, comes after his complaint of his years-long arbitrary detention was referred to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Last week, the High Court asked authorities to give an explanation about Mirwaiz’s continued detention.

Eventually, police informed Mirwaiz on Thursday that officials had decided to restore his freedom of movement, thus allowing him to leave his house and lead prayers at the mosque, which has been central to Kashmir’s politics and has the largest gatherings during special Islamic occasions such as Lailat-ul-Qadr.

Mirwaiz, which literally means the chief sermonizer, is also the chairman of a faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomeration of several smaller pro-freedom parties, the mosque had, by default, become an important center for pro-freedom politics.

The Nowhatta neighborhood near Sringar’s central mosque, called Jamia Masjid, was the epicenter of Friday protests that often turned into clashes between stone-throwing pro-freedom protesters and police. 

“This period of my house arrest and separation from my people has been the most painful for me since my father’s death,” he said, bursting into tears.