Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Valley’s chief cleric who joined Ramzan prayers at Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid for the first time since 2019 on Friday, urged the authorities to “release thousands of Kashmiri political prisoners as a gesture of goodwill in this holy month”.
“I appeal to the authorities to listen to the voice of people’s collective conscience and unconditionally release thousands of Kashmiri political prisoners, who are in jails in J&K and all over India, as a gesture of goodwill in the holy month of Ramzan,” Mr. Farooq, who also delivered the sermon to hundreds of worshippers, said.
He highlighted that the condition of many prisoners, who are in jails for years, “is very bad, causing great distress to people”.
