Kashmiri religious leader prevented from delivering a sermon by India

On 28th March, prominent Kashmiri socio-religious leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under illegal house arrest by India. 

Mirwaiz was put under house arrest by the police ahead of his sermon that he was scheduled to deliver at a prominent mosque in Srinagar, known as Aali Masjid. 

Mirwaiz was released from prolonged illegal house arrest in September last year, more than four years after he was placed under it first in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article-370 by the government of India in August 2019.

Despite releasing him in September, India again placed restrictions on his right to movement in the first week of October and did not allow him to attend any religious gatherings, including Friday prayers at the historical Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.

The restrictions come after Mirwaiz called for the release of Kashmiri political prisoners in Ramadan during one of his sermons.