SRINAGAR: At Jama Masjid Srinagar Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq paid heartfelt tributes to Mirwaiz Mohammad Ahmad, son of Muhajir e Millat (RA) and brother-in-law of Shaheed e Millat (RA), who died in Pakistan last week.
Mirwaiz said, “A man of noble character, he was a distinguished and accomplished religious leader and scholar and a wise and dignified individual. Besides his other invaluable and selfless services, what earned him widespread recognition was his contribution to broadcasting the renowned Tafseer (interpretation) of the holy Qur’an in Kashmiri by his revered father, Mirwaiz Muhammad Yusuf Shah RA on a daily basis through his own voice on Azad Kashmir radio, recordings of which are played in many Kashmiri homes.”
Recalling his life, Mirwaiz Umar said that Mirwaiz Ahmad was a witness and victim of Kashmir’s unfortunate history, who was exiled with his father to the other side of the LOC at the young age of 17 with his young bride, my aunt. “It was extremely inhuman on the part of the rulers that the funeral prayers of this esteemed and beloved son of the soil were not allowed in his own homeland, to which all his life he deeply yearned to return, but was not allowed to,” he said. “It is painful for the family and friends that he died with this wish unfulfilled and like his distinguished father Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah (RA), did not give in to the humiliating conditions set by the Indian state for allowing their return.”
Mirwaiz added, “Again in this hour of grief and loss, the family could not be together due to an artificial line that separates us and the hostility of the two neighbours who fail to see the suffering and agony of this lingering conflict on the people of Kashmir. The division of families and friends unable to connect is one of the most heartbreaking consequences of the tragedy called Kashmir.”
“At such times one again realises the imperative of settling this conflict, of putting an end to the unnecessary suffering of divided families and homes,” Mirwaiz said. “I appeal to the human side of those in power in both countries, to reflect on the human cost that the people of J&K are paying in a dispute that is not of our making and resolve it for the sake of the people of J&K.”
Mirwaiz Umar pays tribute to Mirwaiz Ahmad, highlights humanitarian cost of Kashmir conflict
