After over four years of house detention, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was released on September 22. The 50-year-old was allowed to deliver sermons at the historic Jamia Masjid in the volatile Nowhatta region in capital Srinagar. His release marks the first move by the Central government and the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor since August 5, 2019 to concede space to separatist politics in Kashmir. Prior to that, separatist leaders called the shots in Kashmir through their agitational politics, much to the chagrin of New Delhi.
Currently the chief cleric of the Kashmir valley, the Mirwaiz joined separatist politics at the age of 17, soon after his father Maulana Muhammad Farooq was assassinated by gunmen in 1990. More than 130 years old, the position of the Mirwaiz is rooted in distinct indigenous culture and has to do with preaching Islamic tenets with a thrust on accommodation and moderation while practising the faith.
However, the Mirwaiz clan saw itself go up against the Hindu Dogra monarchy from Jammu in the 1930s and participated in an agitation to seek equal rights and fought for an end to the persecution of Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir. Eventually, the clan got drawn into identity-based politics. To date, it remains the hallmark of the Mirwaiz clan’s policy.
