Srinagar: While terming the detention of a civilian Fayaz Ahmad Rather under the PSA for leading the funeral prayers of a militant Abu Qasim as the extreme of the autocratic policies of Mufti government, Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Geelani said that participation in the funeral prayers is the religious obligation of every Muslim.

He said punishing any person for this reflects that the Sang Parivar has gripped the state administration and they are trying to hurt and humiliate the Muslims in every possible way.

He said that Fayaz Ahmad rather is a respectable citizen and he is also the president of the Auqaf Committee Bugam Kulgam so leading funeral prayers by him is not any extraordinary or abnormal matter.

In a statement issued to KNS, Geelani said that whatever affiliation Abu Qasim was having but once he got killed, every Muslim is duty bound to attend his funeral prayers. If Fayaz Ahmad led his funeral prayers, he neither committed any crime nor can he be punished for that but by booking him under the lawless law PSA, the government proved that the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir is just a show boy and the policy makers and the police are in direct influence of the RSS.

It is a very sensitive issue which is a matter of concern for us. Geelani said that this action also negates the human and moral standards that Abu Qasim was considered as enemy by the government but now revenging the people for participating in his funeral prayers after his martyrdom is a very sorrowful and condemnable action.

Geelani also strongly condemned the slapping of PSA over another innocent youth Peer Basit Ahmad of Asthan Mohalla Palhallan Pattan and said that dozens of innocent students of Palhallan have been detained in police station and the preparations are being made to book them too under the PSA.

Geelani also criticized the administration that the DCs have become the rubber stamps of the police officials and they blindly sign the warrants of PSA prepared on baseless and fabricated charges by the police.

Meanwhile, Geelani strongly condemned the attempts of the Hindu extremists in Jammu to attack the JKLF leader Mohammad Yasin Malik.

Geelani said that the communal forces are trying to restrict the movements of pro-freedom people in Jammu region but we will not allow it to happen and today we want to send them a message that the pro-freedom people will not be scared with their hooliganism.

Geelani said that these kinds of episodes had also happened many times in the past and it is the reflection of the ill-mentality of the communal forces. The pro-freedom leader said that Jammu & Kashmir is a single geographical entity and we will not allow the communal forces to succeed in their designs of dividing the state. (KNS)