10 Kashmiri young boys arrested for raising pro-freedom slogans

On 23rd September, the Jammu and Kashmir police illegally arrested ten Kashmiri boys for allegedly disrupting the ‘peace’ outside Jamia mosque in Srinagar.

The boys had raised pro-freedom slogans after Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a prominent political and religious Kashmiri leader, was allowed to attend Friday prayers in the historic Jamia mosque after four long years of illegal detention in his house.

Mirwaiz, besides being the chief sermonizer of Jamia mosque, also acts as the chairman of a faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomeration of several smaller pro-freedom parties, and hence the mosque had become an important center for pro-freedom peaceful politics. Since August 5, 2019, when the Hindu nationalist Indian government put an end to Kashmir’s minimal political autonomy, no Friday or other important prayers had been allowed at the mosque. 

The boys continue to be under illegal detention as of 24th September, with their parents pleading with the police to release them. The police also publicly released a picture of the detained boys who raised pro-freedom slogans, in which they have been forced to hold their ears, a gesture of apology. The police have stated that the boys will be booked and will continue to remain in detention.