The news of denying the faithful permission to hold Eid prayers in the historic Jama masjid of Srinagar is Undemocratic, unconstitutional and against the cultural ethos of our country. Ever since the stripping of statehood and abrogation of article 370 no important religious consecration has been allowed in the mosque. This is enough to expose the claims of normalcy in the UT and especially the valley. The excuse of law and order and militancy for the ill conceived and ill intended step has harmed the credibility of the Indian state and nation both. More seriously it is a display of cowardice, the government has shown its lack of faith on both the people of Kashmir and its security apparatus which is directly under the union home minister, the all powerful Shri Amit shah. On one hand it claims complete integration of the people with Indian nationhood and on the other it can’t let them hold a prayer meeting. It also sheds bad light on the government’s stand on the recent ceasefire in operation sindoor. How can the government claim to have faith on the capabilities of the security forces to win over Pakistan when it can’t trust them to maintain law and order during a normal prayer meeting which has been going on for centuries. The people of Kashmir have every reason to feel alienated, what more could they do to assure the Indian state, they have accepted quietly the partition of their state, snatching of all autonomy and even recording their highest participation in elections. The international embarrassment that the all party delegations faced would only get compounded by such acts. Right to freely practice religion is an important article of universal human rights declaration.
Unconscionable act of tyranny
