Kashmir’s moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has removed his designation as Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference from his X profile.
Mirwaiz, who is also the chief cleric of Kashmir, has over two lakh followers on his verified X handle. His edited bio now contains only his name and location details.
Mirwaiz claimed that he was “pressed” by the authorities to make changes to his X handle as Hurriyat chairman.
“For some time now, I was being pressed by the authorities to make changes to my X handle as Hurriyat chairman, as all constituents of 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, ” Mirwaiz said 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, ” Mirwaiz added.
The moderate Hurriyat Conference, headed by Mirwaiz, has remained virtually defunct since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Most of its constituent organisations were subsequently banned by the union government, including Mirwaiz’s own political outfit, the AAC.
The conglomerate has rarely issued political statements over the past six years. However, Mirwaiz has continued to advocate dialogue for the resolution of the Kashmir issue during his Friday sermons at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.
