Overview
- Authorities locked the gates of Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid and barred congregational Eid-ul-Adha prayers on Wednesday, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said he was placed under house arrest.
- The Mirwaiz described the action as the eighth consecutive year Eid prayers were blocked at Jamia Masjid and Eidgah and called the restrictions a systematic assault on religious identity and rights.
- Thousands of worshippers nonetheless held peaceful Eid prayers across the Kashmir Valley, including a large congregation at Dargah Hazratbal where political leaders and devotees gathered.
- Journalistic accounts place the closure in a broader pattern that began after the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 and pandemic lockdowns, with the mosque reopened in March 2022 but subject to ongoing security oversight.
- The repeated closures affect everyday religious life by denying public rites and communal memories at a mosque that holds tens of thousands, and they could deepen local grievances and shape how future large gatherings are policed.