Srinagar, March 21 -- Kashmir's chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday alleged that he was put under house arrest, preventing him from delivering the Friday sermon at the historic Jama Masjid in Srinagar.
Despite his absence, thousands of devotees thronged the grand mosque in the old city and offered congregational prayers on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, marking a rare occasion as authorities permitted prayers at the Jamia after several years.
Mirwaiz said this was the third consecutive Friday during the holy month of Ramzan when he was put under house arrest.
"For the third consecutive Friday in Ramzan, I have been put under arbitrary house arrest-never conveyed in writing, but enforced by placing police vehicles an...