People’s Conference president and Handwara MLA Sajad Gani Lone was placed under house arrest on the 24th death anniversary of his father, the party alleged on Thursday.
Hurriyat Conference chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, also claimed that he had been placed under house arrest.
In a statement issued here, the People’s Conference strongly condemned the restrictions imposed on the movement of its president and other senior leaders, alleging that roads were sealed, offices barricaded and access blocked on the death anniversary of Abdul Gani Lone.
The party termed the restrictions “deeply unfortunate” and said preventing people from paying tribute to a leader who sacrificed his life for the people sends a wrong message and undermines democratic values.
The statement added that a gathering planned at the party’s Handwara office was disrupted after police sealed the premises. Authorities also closed the party headquarters at Jawahar Nagar and the president’s office at Church Lane in Srinagar.
Abdul Gani Lone was shot dead by militants on May 21, 2002, while leaving a Hurriyat Conference rally organised to pay tributes to Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq, father of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq was gunned down by militants 12 years earlier on the same day.
Sajad Lone wrote on X that he and his colleagues were scheduled to visit the Martyrs’ Graveyard to offer prayers for his father, Abdul Gani Lone.
“But the police came early this morning and informed me that I have been placed under house arrest,” he said. “We had organised a similar gathering at the Handwara office, but that office too has been sealed by the police.”
Meanwhile, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said May 21 remains “a painful reminder of one of the darkest days in Kashmir’s history when people lost their voice with the martyrdom of their beloved leader, Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq.”
“The mayhem that followed, in which more than 70 mourners were killed and hundreds injured, remains etched in the collective memory of the people. Years later, on the same day, another sane voice was silenced when Shaheed-e-Hurriyat Khawaja Abdul Gani Lone was snatched from us,” he said.
Mirwaiz alleged that authorities prevented people from expressing their sentiments and paying tributes to the leaders and “Martyrs of Hawal”.
“Today, even individuals are not being allowed to visit Mazar-e-Shuhada Eidgah to offer Fatiha prayers, while I have been under house arrest since yesterday evening. Repressive tactics will neither change reality nor erase the contribution of these leaders and their place in people’s hearts,” he said.
