SRINAGAR: Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari on Monday became the first mainstream politician in three decades to offer prayers inside Srinagar city’s historic Jamia Masjid, once a citadel of separatist politics in Jammu and Kashmir.
Accompanied by Apni Party candidate for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Bukhari and his entourage offered prayers inside the 14th century mosque in Nowhatta area of the city where Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq delivers the Friday sermon.
Asked about his visit to Kashmir’s grand old mosque, Bukhari said that he had come to offer voluntary prayers at the mosque.