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Mirwaiz rues ‘widening’ trust deficit between J&K people, New Delhi
While looking back, Mirwaiz said that he was repeatedly placed under house arrest in 2025 and his voice repeatedly denied expression
Chief cleric of Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on Friday said that he was yet again put under house arrest rueing how nothing has changed for people of Kashmir post 2019 with “widening trust deficit between them and New Delhi”.
“I meet you on the first Friday of the year not in Jama Masjid, as the Mirwaiz should, but on social media, as I have once again been put under arrest!,” he said in a statement.
While looking back, Mirwaiz said that he was repeatedly placed under house arrest in 2025 and his voice repeatedly denied expression. “I do not have the privilege of addressing press conferences. I cannot move without getting official clearance, and people cannot meet me without seeking permission. My access to the pulpit of Jama Masjid — the spiritual heart of Kashmir — is also curtailed. In fact, last year I was under house arrest for fourteen Fridays. Arbitrary house arrests have become a recurring feature in my life. All this is deeply suffocating — not only for me, but for an entire society that increasingly feels voiceless,” he said.
Mirwaiz claimed that despite unilateral changes in 2019, Kashmir conflict continues to keep the region in an “unsettled state that can erupt anytime.”
“That is why wars are paused, not ended, and dialogue finds no takers,” he said.
“Yet beyond these incidents, in which Kashmiris find themselves at the receiving end of suspicion and attacks in parts of India, not much has changed for them. The trust deficit between them and New Delhi has widened, not shrunk. Enforced silence is projected as acquiescence. Wounds remain open, problems unaddressed, and an elected government of a UT complains of being powerless,” he said.
“Today we are operating in an environment where any expression of views contrary to the state, or any disagreement, is increasingly criminalised, branded as “anti-national” and penalised,” he said.
He said that change of title on his X handle by dropping the “chairman Hurriyat” has not changed his stance.
“Let me make it clear, my beliefs and convictions have not changed — not even by a comma,” he said.
“Some have criticised this move as a compromise. To them I say, how and for what? They make a strange argument — for being provided security. But it was provided to me since the day of my father’s martyrdom 35 years ago. If I did not compromise for it since then, why should I compromise now?,” he said.
“In the past, I have engaged with leadership of the subcontinent and successive Indian leaderships — including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Shri LK Advani — in sincere efforts of dialogue. My path remains the same,” he said.
