Says If Number Of Participants Given, Govt Will Think Over It

Srinagar: Administration on Tuesday said it was serious about allowing the Muharram procession on the two routes of Srinagar city if the Shia community provides details of the number of people participating in processions, a senior government official said.
The large-scale Muharram processions in Srinagar are banned for the last three decades due to the security concerns.
Division Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri said that several meetings have been held with Shia leaders on allowing the procession in Srinagar routes on 8th Muharram.
“We are asking them (shia community) time and again to provide a number of people and who will join. The ball is now in their court…we are expecting they will reciprocate and we will see accordingly,” he told reporters in Srinagar.
“When nobody is able to tell us how many people will attend and from where they will come, you hope that authorities will allow it freely,” he said.
Bidhuri said the Muharram processions remain sensitive for the Shia community and during the 40 day 89 processions are being held in Srinagar alone.
“There is no restriction and if someone says it would be unjustified”, he said.
The two routes…Guru Bazar and Abi Guzar … where from the Ashura procession was being allowed earlier, have been re-routed and not banned due to circumstances. And this has not happened in our period rather have been banned for over 32 years, the divisional commissioner said.
“You know that if something has been banned for so many years there would have been reasons for that”, he said and added “when so many politicians could not allow it during all these years there would have definitely been something wrong”.
“The administration and the people of Kashmir have worked hard since peace prevailed in the valley”, Bidhuri said and added “If anybody will try to disrupt the peace he will be dealt with by the law accordingly…this is what we are conveying very clearly”, he added.
“If anybody is found disrupting peace, or damaging public property…we will deal with them strictly,” he said.
The traditional procession, to mark the eighth and tenth days of the 10-day Muharram mourning period, used to pass through Abi Guzar and the interior areas of the city. However, it was banned after the eruption of militancy in the valley in the 1990s with authorities maintaining that religious gatherings were used for propagating separatist sentiments.
Last week, Political parties in Kashmir demanded the revocation of the ban on Muharram processions, saying it’s not justified as the government claims normalcy has returned to the valley and all other religious processions are allowed.

KR Desk