No Friday curfew in Srinagar after six weeks

SRINAGAR - For the first time in six weeks, no curfew was imposed in the Old City areas of Srinagar to allow Friday prayers at the Jamia mosque, officials said.

“No curfew has been imposed anywhere in Srinagar city today (Friday). The decision follows the overall improvement in the law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley,” a police officer said here.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who heads the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, last week convened a meeting of local Ulemas who expressed serious concern at the administration’s decision to consecutively impose curfew in the Old City Nowhatta area of Srinagar that restrained people from offering congregational Friday prayers at the Jamia mosque.

The Mirwaiz delivers his weekly sermons at the Jamia mosque during Friday prayers.

Traditionally, the Old City areas of Srinagar are seen as the political bastions of the Mirwaiz family, a majority of whose supporters live in these densely populated areas.

In the early 1990s, the Old City areas had become a stronghold of separatist guerrillas who carried out attacks on security forces in these areas.