Kashmir: Central mosque holds first prayers in months

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Some 76 people offered prayers on Wednesday at the largest and politically-significant mosque in Kashmir for the first time in nearly five months, raising hopes among the people that curbs on prayers at Jamia Masjid mosque were finally coming to an end.

Several people broke down as they entered the 14th-century mosque located in Nowhatta, an area in old Srinagar where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

Atiqa Bano, in her sixties, hugged and kissed one of mosque's 378 pine pillars as she hurried past a row of men who were preparing for the prayers.

"Jamia's closure had left my heart a stone. You and we all had been silenced," Atiqa said.

Altaf Ahmad Baba, a local resident, broke down in tears after the prayers were finished. Sobbing, he said: "God please deliver us from the darkness".

He said his four-year-old son Ahmad kissed the gates of the mosque when the call for prayers began.

"I have been praying here since my childhood. Whenever we passed by the mosque he would ask my father when we could pray there again. God has answered our prayers. I can't tell you how happy I am," he said.

Since Aug. 5, when the Indian government scrapped special laws granting autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir and imposing a security lockdown, Indian soldiers and police would close the gates leading to the mosque and a market that girds it on four sides.

Markets in Kashmir have closed against the scrapping of the laws after only a few hours of business in the morning. They now close at 2.30 p.m. local time [0930GMT] in the old city, which offered a window of opportunity for the mosque management to attempt to hold prayers.

The Imam of the mosque, Mufti Ghulam Rasool Samoon, said soldiers would close the gates exactly when the markets would close.

"Since the strike timings have relaxed, we decided to offer Zuhr prayers. If markets remain open for more time, we might offer Asr as well," he said.

For the cleaning and maintenance of the mosque, which is built on a plot of more than three acres, the management had to seek permission from the police for opening its gates, said Parvaiz Ahmad, the caretaker.

"They would also seek assurance that nothing untoward will happen when the gates were opened," he said.

Muhammad Akbar, a resident of Srinagar, said: "The closure of the mosque for so long is an attack not only on the religious freedoms but also on our political aspiration."

Disputed region

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.