Srinagar, December 05: The High Court on Friday ordered the state government to clarify within one week its stand on the ban on Muharram processions in central Srinagar in force for nearly 20 years now.
The High Court order came in response to a petition filed by the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (IuM) last year seeking the revocation of the government’s ban on the processions on the 8th and 10th of the Muslim month of mourning.
The petition by the IuM president, Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari, argues that the ban violates the right to freedom of religion, and was against international law and the constitutions of Jammu and Kashmir and India
The processions, in memory of the massacred progeny of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), were traditionally taken out from separate locations in the heart of the city and used prominent routes to reach their destination, but were banned by the government with the onset of militancy out of fear of the events turning into a pro-freedom show.
The authorities cite security reasons for the ban in place for two decades now, but have failed to respond to the IUM petition even though the High Court had issued formal notices to the principal secretary for home, the divisional commissioner for Kashmir, and the district magistrate for Srinagar.
During a hearing before Justice JP Singh today, the counsel for the IuM, Syed Riyaz Khawar, pointed out that the government had neither filed its objections nor lifted the ban on the processions, prompting the court to virtually crack the whip on the authorities, giving them one week to respond.
The High Court orders came over a fortnight before Muslims begin marking the anniversary of the most cataclysmic event in Islamic history.
Ashura, or the tenth day of Muharram, commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh), and his faithful companions at the hands of the then so-called Islamic state’s forces in the plains of Karbala in Irag nearly 14 centuries ago.
The day is observed with mourning processions in most parts of the Muslim world, but the Jammu and Kashmir government had imposed a ban on the main event in Srinagar, restricting Muharram observance to Shia pockets in the interior of the city.
-Agencies