Imran Reza Ansari. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Prominent Kashmiri Shia leader Imran Reza Ansari on July 24 walked out of a meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha after a heated exchange with Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta over the arrangements made for this year’s Muharram, an Islamic month where the community recalls and mourns over the Battle of Karbala.
The L-G administration for the past 35 days was in touch with Shia leaders from Kashmir to finalise the modalities of Muharram processions and also discuss the lifting of ban on the processions that were being carried out in the city centre, Lal Chowk, prior to 1990, when militancy broke out in Jammu and Kashmir.
“I expressed my displeasure over the arrangements being made and the amenities offered. They need to look at the conditions of basic amenities like running tap water, roads, electricity etc. [in Shia areas].”
“I pointed out how L-G Sinha, who is occupying the highest position in J&K, and other senior officials visited Amarnath shrine multiple times but failed to visit Shias area. The L-G’s visit would have sent a positive message to the community as well as to the administration. I walked out when I sensed I was being given a dictation,” Mr. Ansari, who heads the All Jammu And Kashmir Shia Association, told The Hindu.
Sources said Mr. Kumar took exception to Mr. Ansari’s remarks, also a former Jammu and Kashmir Minister, over his reference to the Amarnath yatra. The Chief Secretary allegedly accused the Shia leader of “giving a sectarian angle” to the meeting. This sparked a heated exchange, with Mr. Ansari leaving the meeting.
The L-G administration, for the first time in over three decades, is mulling over lifting the ban on a set of Muharram processions in Kashmir’s Guru Bazar-Dal Gate route on 8th and 10th of the Islamic month.
In the 1990s, a ban was imposed on organising Muharram processions in the city centre, Lal Chowk, after several processions turned into anti-India demonstrations. Around 10% of the population in Kashmir is Shias.
Sources said the L-G administration had offered to allow processions with conditions and was likely to set a bar on the number of mourners, who could attend these processions. However, no formal order on lifting the ban had been issued by the administration.
The administration imposes curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar to disallow Muharram processions every year. This month has seen clashes between Shia mourners and the security forces in the past. Security forces have also used force to impose the ban on several occasions since 1990.