Srinagar: In a significant development, Mirwaiz Kashmir Molvi Umer Farooq was witnessed very shocked and pitied the plight of Kashmiri Pandit migrants who fled the valley in the wake of the armed uprising by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists way back in 1990.
Addressing a huge congregation of devotees at the historic Jamia Masjid of Srinagar after offering special Friday prayers and his first public appearance after lapsing nearly 212 Fridays due to house arrest since August 5, 2019, for opposing the abrogation of Article 370 & 35A, Mirwaiz said, “Though I was labeled as anti-national, separatist, and what not, I feel very shocked for our Kashmiri Pandit brethren who had to leave Kashmir in the wake of militancy in the early ’90s.”
Emotional Mirwaiz, with tears in his eyes, said, “Kashmir’s composite culture is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits, and let us make sincere efforts to call them back to their original place, i.e., Kashmir, as soon as possible,” he maintained.
This line of Mirwaiz has touched the hearts of lakhs of Kashmiri Pandit migrants who are aborigines of Kashmir, were residing in and outside Kashmir for many years now. This is the first time in the history of Kashmir that sympathy and pain for Kashmiri Pandit migrants have been expressed from the Mehrabs of historic Jamia Masjid by a mammoth gathering of the Muslim community during special Friday Prayers led by Mirwaiz Kashmir Molvi Umer Farooq.
Reacting to the positive and secular signal of Mirwaiz, several political, social, and religious leaders of Kashmir expressed their joy over the utterances of Mirwaiz and hoped that if God wishes, the dream of bringing back the KP community to the Valley will come true soon.
While talking to this correspondent on the phone, prominent business house head of Jammu and Kashmir and social activist Dr. Sandeep Mawa lamented that Mirwaiz’s positive message and singing of a secular song from the central hall of Jamia Masjid Srinagar is an eye-opener and based on the change that Kashmir has been witnessing since the abrogation of Article 370 & 35A besides the turning of erstwhile J&K state into a union territory on August 5, 2019. “We have been witnessing pro-Azadi slogans, anti-India activities, and the upper hand of Hurriyat and Separatist leaders before the abrogation of Article 370 & 35A, but after that, circumstances as well as the mindsets of hardliners have changed, which was purely the outcome of the historic decision taken by the Government of India on August 5, 2019,” Dr. Mawa added.
“We have been working very seriously on the issue of bringing our Pandit brethren back to the valley behind the curtains who fled the valley in the wake of militancy nearly 33 years ago, and we are hopeful that Almighty will give us success in our efforts shortly,” this was stated by Awami National Conference vice president Muzzafer Shah while talking on the phone call.
It is pertinent to mention here that after the abrogation of Article 370, J&K has witnessed a sea change in the mindsets of hardliners and their handlers. Separatists, Hurriyat hawks, and ilk who were dancing to the tunes of their perpetrators across the border vanished into thin air. Changing Jammu and Kashmir into a union territory and abrogation of Articles like 370 and 35A has paved a new dawn of development and progress for the new Jammu and Kashmir architected by PM Narendra Modi and his team.