Srinagar: An emergency and extraordinary meeting of several important and leading members of the Muttahida Majlis Ulema (MMU) headed by incarcerated Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was held on Sunday, presided over by one of its founding members and renowned religious scholar Moulana Muhammad Rehmatullah Mir Al Qasmi.

Among the leading muftis and scholars who participated in the meeting were Mufti Abdul Rasheed Miftahi, Moulana Bashir Ahmad Al Qasimi, Mufti Nisar Ahmad Al Qasimi, Mufti Ijaz Ul Hassan Banday, Mufti Irshad Ahmad Qasmi, Mufti Ghulam Rasool Samoon, Moulana Fayaz Ahmed, Qari Muhammad Aslam Raheemi, and Moulana M S Rehman Shams.

In this important meeting, the participants expressed strong reaction against the recent negative activities of some individuals aimed at creating sectarian divisions in Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting rejected such actions and activities of accusations and counter-accusations between the two sects of Ahlus Sunnat Wal Jamaat in Kashmir, saying that Kashmir and its people cannot afford and allow such irresponsible attempts nor can any individual or party be allowed to commit insolence and misdemeanours against great Muslim scholars.

The participants said that in the context of the current situation, the meeting and discussion among all the responsible scholars of all schools of thought was inevitable and the need of the hour.

The MMU proposed that in this regard, the Majlis-e-Ulema should convene a consultative meeting on Thursday, 28 July, during which a common action plan and strategy shall be decided, and the scholars and preachers of all schools of thought would be bound to adhere strictly to it.

The meeting stressed on mutual unity and harmony in view of the serious local and external situation and appealed to the people to keep an eye on the activities of anti-Islam and anti-unity elements and to be vigilant against their negative activities.

At the end of the meeting, the participants expressed deep concern over the arbitrary and illegal detention of the MMU Patron Mirwaiz-Kashmir Dr Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq, who continues to be under house arrest for the last three years. They demanded his immediate release.

  Kashmir 370

Reader correspondent