Dissolve Local Processions, Join Historic Juloos
SRINAGAR (ONS) – The chief patron of the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, Maulana Abbas Ansari, on Tuesday demanded repealing the 20-year-old government ban on major Muharram processions in central Srinagar, saying that Kashmiri Shias too should be allowed the freedom of religious practice as people of other faiths.
Significantly, appealing for a joint strategy to tackle the ban, Maulana Abbas asked Shia organisations to cancel all small processions taken out on Muharram 8 and 10 locally in various Srinagar neighbourhoods and forge single unified processions on their historic routes.
The state government has adopted double standards, Maulana Abbas said in a statement. On the one hand there is a ban practically in force on the processions of 8th and 10th Muharram, and on the other, the state government resorts to lies to create an impression that the shia community in Kashmir is free to observe its religious practices.
All claims of the state government of making Muharram arrangements are absurd, futile and baseless unless the unwarranted ban on all key azadari processions is lifted, he said.
At a high-level session headed by the Maulana, the IuM resolved to proceed with the Muharram 8 procession on its traditional Guru Bazaar-Dalgate route.
It asked people to join the presently-banned procession in large numbers to pay tribute to Imam Hussain (AS).
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