Farooq not allowed to offer prayers at Hazratbal: PAGD

Srinagar, October 30: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on Friday alleged that its president Dr Farooq Abdullah was not being allowed to leave house for Hazratbal shrine here, saying it was a “new low in curtailment of fundamental rights” of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Farooq Abdullah, who heads the newly floated PAGD, an amalgam of different mainstream political organisations of Kashmir, also happens to be president of National Conference.

In a statement, PAGD spokesperson Sajad Lone alleged that the state administration has put up a blockade outside the residence of Abdullah and demanded its immediate removal.

Earlier, the National Conference had claimed in a tweet that the administration had blocked Abdullah’s residence and stopped him from offering prayers at Dargah Hazratbal on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi.

Lone said, “Abdullah was slated to go to Hazratbal in order to participate in the religious congregation on account of Eid-Milad-Un-Nabi, however (he) was barred from leaving his house.”

“We strongly condemn the actions of the state administration which are tantamount to interference in the religious rights of Dr Farooq Abdullah. This marks a new low in the curtailment of fundamental rights of the people of J&K. We demand that the blockade be removed so that Dr Farooq Sahib is able to perform his religious duties,” he said.

The PAGD also “unequivocally and unambiguously” condemned the killings of three BJP workers by terrorists in Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Thursday. “Political differences cannot justify use of violence. Violence has always and will crowd out sanity. We will always fight aggression in all its forms irrespective of the source of aggression,” Lone said.

Menwhile, in Jammu, National Conference workers led by party’s provincial president Devender Singh Rana held a demonstration in protest against administration’s decision against allowing Dr Farooq Abdullah to visit Hazratbal shrine. They tried to take out a rally in the city, but were stopped by police.

The National Conference vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah visited people at Drass in the Union Territory of Ladakh for consultations “on the road ahead’’ in view of Central government abrogating of Article 370 on August 5 last year,

The people of Drass in Ladakh have “endorsed” the agenda of the Peoples” Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah said on Friday. “Warmly received by the people of Drass, who in one voice endorsed the agenda of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration,” tweeted Omar Abdullah.