SRINAGAR, June 24: Senior Shia cleric Masroor Abbas Ansari has appealed to the Jammu and Kashmir administration to restore the traditional Ashura (10th Muharram) procession on its historic route, expressing confidence that the government will take another significant step after reviving the 8th Muharram procession.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 8th Muharram procession in Srinagar, Ansari said the administration had shown courage by allowing the historic procession to resume after a gap of more than 35 years, a decision previous governments had failed to take.
He said the Shia community hopes the administration will now permit the traditional Ashura procession to follow its original route and conclude at Zadibal, as was the practice before restrictions were imposed decades ago.
Ansari said restoring the historic route would allow devotees to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights while maintaining discipline and communal harmony during the observance.
The senior cleric also expressed gratitude to the Lieutenant Governor-led administration for reviving the 8th Muharram procession in 2023, describing it as a landmark decision that enabled thousands of mourners to participate peacefully after more than three decades.
The traditional Guru Bazar–Dalgate procession was restored in 2023 following a ban that had remained in place since the early 1990s. Since its revival, the annual procession has witnessed large participation under elaborate security and administrative arrangements.
The demand to restore the traditional Ashura procession route has remained a long-standing request of the Shia community, which continues to seek permission for the 10th Muharram procession to follow its pre-ban route through Srinagar.
