Mirwaiz Umar Farooq 'Detained' Hours After ‘Quitting’ Hurriyat On X, Misses Friday Prayers

Srinagar: Authorities on Friday placed Kashmir’s senior religious preacher, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest once again, preventing him from reaching the historic Jama Masjid in Srinagar to deliver a sermon and offer congregational prayers, according to a statement issued from his office.

“Authorities have once again placed @MirwaizKashmir under house arrest today, preventing him from going to the historic Jama Masjid, Srinagar, to deliver the sermon and offer Friday prayers,” Mirwaiz Manzil said in their X post.

The detention also stopped Mirwaiz from attending the launch of the Mirwaiz Foundation Calendar 2026, a cultural and heritage initiative aimed at celebrating the region's shared spiritual history. His office described the action as “sad and unjust,” saying curbs on peaceful religious and community activity only deepen alienation.

“Today, he was also to launch the Mirwaiz Foundation Calendar, a programme meant to celebrate our shared spiritual and cultural heritage — yet even this was denied by force. Curtailing peaceful religious or community activity is very sad and unjust,” Mirwaiz Manzil said.

Mirwaiz, who traditionally leads Friday prayers at Jama Masjid, has faced repeated restrictions on his movement over the past several years. Although he was allowed to address worshippers earlier this year after a gap of more than six years, he continues to be detained intermittently, particularly on Fridays.

The latest detention comes amid renewed political and public debate over Mirwaiz’s recent decision to remove the designation “Chairman, All Parties Hurriyat Conference” from his verified X profile.

He claimed that the authorities “pressed” him to do so amid the ban on all constituents of the Hurriyat, including the Awami Action Committee.

“For some time now, I was being pressed by the authorities to make changes to my X (formerly Twitter) handle as Hurriyat chairman, as all constituents of the Hurriyat Conference, including the Awami Action Committee that I head, have been banned under the UAPA, making Hurriyat a banned organisation, failing which they will take down my handle,” he wrote on X.

“At a time when public space and avenues of communication stand severely restricted, this platform remains among the very few means available to me to reach out to my people and share my views on our issues with them and the outside world. Under such circumstances, it is a Hobson’s choice I was left to make,” he adds.

'Hobson's Choice' is an English phrase which means one has only one choice to make, as there is no real alternative.

The introductory information, known as the bio, on Mirwaiz’s X handle was edited on Thursday evening. Now, it contains only basic details of his name and location. He has more than 2 lakh followers on X.

National Conference (NC) Chief Spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq urged the government to review the matter, describing Mirwaiz as a widely respected religious scholar. “If a person of his standing says he has been pressurised, this needs to be re-examined,” Sadiq said.

Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said that dropping the name of Chairman Hurriyat Conference from his X profile was Mirwaiz Umar's "personal matter", but it does not address the “alienation” between New Delhi and people of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Hurriyat is not a human, it is an idea, it connotes alienation between people and the government of India which must be addressed. It will not end by putting people in jails,” she said.

Pulwama MLA Waheed ur Rehman Para also defended Mirwaiz’s decision, drawing a parallel with the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, where the Prophet Muhammad accepted symbolic concessions in the interest of peace. “Choosing peace over rigidity is not weakness, it is leadership,” Para said, warning that attacks and trolling against Mirwaiz only deepen divisions.

Mirwaiz’s organisation, the Awami Action Committee, was banned by authorities earlier this year under the strict anti-terrorism law, against which he has approached the court.

The All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a conglomerate of separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, was formed in 1993 to give a peaceful alternative to political mobilisations and coordinate protest programmes.

The alliance consisted of a total of 23 political, semi-political and social organisations that wanted a “political solution” to the Jammu and Kashmir issue, for which it demanded tripartite talks between representatives of India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir and the implementation of United Nations (UN) resolutions.

Mirwaiz was the founding chairman of the conglomerate, and even after the breakup of the alliance, he remained the head of his faction of the separatist alliance for a long time.

His father, former Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq, was shot dead by militants at his residence on May 21, 1990, at the beginning of the armed insurgency in Kashmir. At that time, Umar was a student, but as per family tradition, he was given the post of Mirwaiz, and he became politically active.

After Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, several other leaders also took over the leadership of the Hurriyat Conference, but in 2003, the alliance broke down when Syed Ali Geelani alleged that the Hurriyat Conference had secretly supported some candidates in the assembly elections. From 2003 to 2019, the Hurriyat Conference factions remained active, led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq with his father Moulvi Farooq (L). (AAC)

Mirwaiz delivers Friday sermons at the main Jama Masjid in Srinagar. This year, he was allowed to address the public for the first time during Friday prayers after more than six years of continuous house arrest, but he is still detained on some occasions.

The dominance of the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Conference has gradually declined over the past decade, largely due to the Centre's crackdown on the alliance's leadership. Most of the Hurriyat Conference leaders are currently under house arrest.

Following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's semi-autonomous status and partial abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the Centre banned most of the APHC's affiliates and has since arrested several senior leaders under stringent laws, while several leaders have been booked. In addition, several leaders have withdrawn from public political activities altogether.

Mirwaiz has also been adopting a cautious tone in his statements for quite some time now. He presents his demands to the central government, and in no way does he give the impression that he is expressing a separatist ideology. However, in his statements, he demands that the government hold talks with the leadership of Jammu and Kashmir and provide humanitarian facilities to the leaders and activists detained in jails.

Meanwhile, the Mirwaiz Foundation, in association with Anjuman-e-Auqaf Jama Masjid, launched the Calendar 2026 titled “Pillars of Faith: Wooden Mosques on the Historic Silk Route” at Jama Masjid on Friday. The calendar documents historic wooden mosques across Kashmir, Central Asia and beyond, highlighting their architectural and spiritual significance along the ancient Silk Route.

Mirwaiz could not attend the event due to his detention. Organisers said the calendar aims to reconnect younger generations with a shared spiritual heritage and will be available for a hadi­yah of Rs 75 at select locations in Srinagar, with home delivery also arranged.

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