CRPF personnel on Friday fired warning shots after their vehicle was attacked by a group of stone pelters outside the Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar, officials said.
Violent clashes broke out between a group of youths and security forces in parts of the city on Saturday, leaving a youth and a policeman injured in stone pelting as separatist groups called a strike in Srinagar condemning the police action on Jamia Masjid on Friday.
Terrorists, who used ladders to clamber over the walls of the Jamia Masjid near Parade Lane, lobbed grenades and fired indiscriminately at worshippers, including serving and retired military personnel, who had gathered for Friday prayers at the shrine near army's heavily-guarded General Headquarters. The attackers also exchanged fire with the mosque's security guards. Two of the attackers then blew themselves up in the mosque, intelligence sources were quoted as saying.
Moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday asked Union Minister Farooq Abdullah to take "rest" following his suggestion for reopening of cinemas and liquor shops in Jammu and Kashmir to provide more options for tourists.
Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Friday welcomed Indo-Pakistan talks as a "good omen" and said bold initiatives were needed for the success of the bilateral dialogue process. "It is a good omen that India and Pakistan have agreed to write a new chapter in their history. There is a need for taking bold steps, leaving behind the past bitterness and the practice of complicating the issues," Mirwaiz said while addressing a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid.
The blast, which targeted the Jamia Masjid in Jamrud area of Khyber tribal agency, took place as people were leaving after Friday prayers.
Kashmir remained the biggest hurdle in relations between India and Pakistan and it should top the agenda of any talks between the two countries, moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said on Friday.
A youth was killed and 30 others were injured in post Friday prayer protests in the old city areas late this afternoon.Fierce clashes erupted soon after the worshippers were leaving the various mosques including the Jamia masjid in old city.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has asked Muslim men to 'make their women observe pardah' and criticised co-education, saying it is perverting the youth of Pakistan. Delivering the sermon during Friday prayers at the JuD's Jamia Masjid Al-Qadsia at Chowburji in Lahore, Saeed described the ban imposed by France and other European countries on wearing the 'hijab' and constructing minarets in mosques as a "conspiracy against Muslims."
Pakistan has assured that it would not put the core issue of Kashmir on the backburner, chairman of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said on Friday.
Rejecting the Central Bureau of Investigation's report, the moderate Hurriyat Conference on Friday demanded an international probe into the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian. "We demand an international probe into the Shopian double rape and murder case to unveil the truth and the government of India should have no objection if the CBI report was based on facts," Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar today.
"Kashmir is an issue concerning the people living in five regions -- three under Indian control and two under Pakistani control. The state should be united as it existed on August 14, 1947 and its people decide the future," Mirwaiz said addressing the congregation at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.
Continuing his anti-India rant, the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has now said that 'jihad' is the only way to free Jammu and Kashmir from the "Indian yoke". Saeed, who India blames for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, made the remarks while addressing a meeting of JuD workers at the Jamia Masjid Mukarram at Daska in Punjab province on Monday.
Chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq Friday claimed that the initiative of the separatist amalgam for "trilateral talks" with India and Pakistan has been received well in Islamabad.
Twelve people, including two girls, were injured in running battles between protesters and police lasting several hours.
Two BJP activists were injured in skirmishes with the police as demonstrators burnt tyres and torched effigies of the governor, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the police said.
India and Pakistan look to take the peace process to the next level.
Chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani was again put under house arrest on Thursday to prevent him from taking part in the Friday congregation at the holy Hazratbal shrine.Geelani had given a 'Hazratbal chalo' call to offer special prayers for the 'victory' in the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board forest land issue. A spokesman of the HC, Aiyaz Akbar, told UNI that a large number of police personnel were deployed outside his residence.
Crucial reforms in Muslim personal law, especially laws related to inheritance and adoption, need to be initiated forthwith; historically speaking, without the State's backing, hardly has any reform taken place or allowed to prevail, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
At least 13 persons, including a woman and a cameraperson of a national news channel, were injured in Srinagar on Friday, as the police opened fire, lobbed teargas shells and used batons to chase away violent youths demanding the release of jailed separatist leaders.
People came out of homes in large numbers, offered namaz at mosques, greeted each other with hugs and exchanged food and gifts across the length and breadth of India to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha on Sunday.
The moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday asked people to cancel the reception arranged for its seven-member delegation returning from Pakistan on Thursday.
The militants have also decided to establish a seminary similar to Jamia Hafsa, the girls madrassa attached to Lal Masjid which was razed to the ground by the government after its capture early this month.
Out on bail, the Bhim Army chief said 'it will be shameful if I don't call him out for saying that those indulging in violence can be identified by their clothes itself'.
The Pakistan government has reportedly decided to demolish the Jamia Hafsa girls madrassa attached to the Lal Masjid in Islamabad on the grounds that the building is not stable after the July 11 military raid on the complex.
In his first public appearance following his release from four-year house arrest on Friday, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq reiterated the stand of his separatist amalgam that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir has to be resolved through dialogue and peaceful means.
Despite Army Chief Bipin Rawat's stern message, Kashmiri youths on Friday waved Pakistani and Islamic State flags and pelted stones at security forces in old Srinagar city.
A series of massive explosions and gunfire rocked the area around the besieged mosque complex creating panic among people in the Pakistani capital.
The Pakistani delegation is visiting the US to brief US lawmakers, officials, academics and other members of the American society on the state of religious schools in Pakistan.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Eid prayers passed off peacefully and there was no report of any untoward incident, the police said.
There were no reports of anyone getting hurt in these clashes.
An altercation broke out between worshippers, who were coming out of a mosque in Handwara town of Kupwara district, and Army personnel, who were recording videos.
Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Sajid Ahmad Gilkar was killed in an encounter on Wednesday.
At least 56 seminaries and facilities being run by JuD and its wing FIF in Pakistan's southern Sindh province have been taken over by authorities.
The mosque in the heart of Islamabad was reopened after remaining closed for three months in the wake of the military operation that left more than 100 people dead.
According to the police, one of the accused had made IEDs and later tested them at several places in Delhi, Rajasthan and Haldwani in Uttarakhand.
As the number of COVID-19 cases is witnessing a spike in India, religious places across the country remain closed to encourage social distancing, a key component in preventing the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Violent clashes were witnessed at two places in Kashmir on Friday, with stone-pelting mobs attacking security personnel who retaliated by lobbing teargas shells, officials said.
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