Separatists given scare.
Alarm bells are ringing for the separatists after masked youth stormed historic Jamia Masjid, unfurling Islamic State (ISIS) flags and briefly occupying the pulpit after Friday prayers before vanishing in thin air.
The incident occurred when a group of hooded youth barged into the Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta after most of the people had left after saying Friday Namaz.
Shouting slogans 'Daulat-ul-Islam'(Islamic State), one of the jean-clad masked youth climbed the pulpit used by Moderate Hurriyat Conference leader and chief cleric of Jamia Masjid, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to deliver sermons on Fridays and important days of Islamic calendar.
The youth waved the black IS flags and sat on the wooden pulpit before an unidentified man tried to snatch the flag and bring him down. However, the masked youth resisted and climbed atop the pulpit and unfurled black IS flag with Kalima (first fundamental of Islam) inscribed on it.
Some of his masked associates were seen shouting slogans `Daulat-ul-Islam’ in the prayer hall even as some people assembled creating a din in the mosque. The incident occurred when Moderate Hurriyat chairman and Chief cleric of Kashmir Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had left the Jamia Masjid after delivering the Friday sermon.
Strongly condemning the incident, Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid, caretakers of the mosque, said the incident was deliberate and planned and had led to shock outrage and hurt their sentiments of the people .
“A group of masked boys entered the mosque and rushed to the pulpit. One of them stood atop the pulpit with his shoes on, screaming slogans and creating ruckus. In the meantime, his associates videotaped it and and put it on social media. This clearly indicates that this incident was deliberate and planned”, said a spokesman of Anjuman.
Terming the masked youth as “lumpen group of hooligans, the spokesman said it is not known on whose behest these youth tried to desecrate Jamia Masjid.
“It shows utter disregard of this group of miscreants for Islamic institutions, values and Islamic teachings. Such elements not only malign the name of Islam but also abuse it”, he said.
Warning these elements, the spokesman said they will not tolerate or allow anyone to violate the sanctity of the mosque and the pulpit at any cost. “Jamia Masjid is the spiritual religious and political centre of the people of Kashmir and representative of our collective cultural heritage and any attempt to harm it will be dealt with firmly”, he said.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir Range, Vidhi Kumar Birdi told DNA that they are looking into matter and scanning the videos (to try to identify the people involved in the incident).
“We are looking into the videos and all that. We are looking into it”, he said.
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