Authorities Bar ‘Jumma-Tul-Vida’ Prayers At Jamia Masjid In J&K’s Srinagar

SRINAGAR, APRIL 14 – The local authorities disallowed the congregational prayer on ‘Jumma-tul-Vida’ — marking the last Friday of Ramzan — at the Jamia Masjid here, the grand mosque’s managing body said.
Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid — the managing body of the mosque located in the city’s Nowhatta area — said in a statement that the district magistrate and police officials visited the shrine on Friday morning and asked the management to lock the gates as “the administration had decided that ‘Jumma-tul-Vida’ prayers will not be allowed at the mosque”.
“The Auqaf strongly resents this move of the authorities causing great distress to lakhs of Muslims, who traditionally come from all parts of the Valley to offer prayers on the last and greatly blessed Friday of Ramzan in Jamia Masjid where offering prayers on (the) last Friday has great significance,” the statement said.
Last month, the authorities disallowed the ‘Shab-e-Barat’ congregational prayers at the mosque.
Reacting sharply to the development, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the administration was betraying its own claims of normality in the Valley by locking the gates of the grand mosque.
“We are constantly treated to claims of normalcy in J&K and yet the administration betrays its own claims when it resorts to locking up one of our holiest mosques thus denying people the chance to offer prayers on the last Friday of Ramzan,” Abdullah, the National Conference vice president, wrote on Twitter.