Hurriyat Conference chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said the banning of Jamia Siraj Ul Uloom under the stringent UAPA was a “serious matter”, fuelling apprehension among people that “our religious identity, and educational institutions being run by trusts and local committees are being targeted”, besides “ruining the future of hundreds of students studying there”.
Addressing the Friday congregation at Jama Masjid in Srinagar, Mirwaiz referred to Thursday’s protests over the ban on one of Kashmir’s largest seminaries and said the “dare by students” and their parents to protest in these times “shows the urgency and deep distress it is causing to them.”
He said those at the helm should understand that if they were not seeing open resentment against such moves, it was because there was no space for people or leadership to express disagreement and anguish over such policies.
Mirwaiz said the undercurrent of resentment against these policies could consolidate if the state did not revisit its approach and allow the reopening of the institution and others like it, letting them function as educational institutions.
He urged those in power to reconsider the approach and earn people’s trust and goodwill rather than alienating them through such distressing measures.
Referring to the drug menace, Mirwaiz said the state’s drive against drug peddlers and narcotics networks in Jammu and Kashmir was a welcome initiative. He said that every sincere effort aimed at protecting the younger generation from addiction, one of the gravest challenges facing society, was welcome.
At the same time, he said one could not ignore the fact that a generation raised amid political conflict, uncertainty, stress and limited economic avenues was highly prone to substance abuse.
He said the crisis could not be viewed only through the law-and-order prism, or through “headline grabbing of arrests and property confiscation”.
Mirwaiz said many youths today were struggling with anxiety, hopelessness and psychological distress as a fallout of political uncertainty and anxiety about their future. Therefore, while strict action against drug traffickers and dismantling their networks was necessary, policing alone could neither solve this health emergency nor heal a wounded society, he said.
He said the situation demanded a holistic approach, where the younger generation sees stability and opportunities that rekindle hope and the promise of a bright future, which in itself would deter them from drugs.
Mirwaiz said that, with these objectives in mind, a campaign against drug abuse and for social reform had been started around 2014 under the aegis of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema, stressing the role that mosques and imams could play in the endeavour. Collective efforts from all sides could go a long way in dealing with the problem, he said.
He said official figures indicated that there were now hundreds of licensed liquor vends across Jammu and Kashmir and that revenue from liquor sales had increased substantially in recent years, raising an important question: could one form of addiction be fought while another was simultaneously expanded?
Mirwaiz pointed out that many Indian states, including Gujarat, Bihar and Nagaland, had implemented prohibition or strict restrictions on alcohol, showing that governments could adopt policies guided not merely by revenue considerations but also by social welfare and public wellbeing.
He urged the government to seriously reconsider its alcohol policy in Jammu and Kashmir and impose a total ban, saying a meaningful strategy to protect the youth must address all forms of intoxicants together.
“Our youth need education, opportunity, counselling, spiritual grounding and constructive engagement—not substances that destroy their future,” Mirwaiz said.
