"Silence Does Not Mean Agreement"

As the assembly election results in Jammu and Kashmir delivered a decisive victory to the National Conference-Congress coalition, separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, addressing people at a Friday congregation after his recent release from detention, had dismissed the elections as meaningless-arguing that the powers of the assembly had been limited even before the polls.

The Mirwaiz had been under house arrest since the abrogation of Article 370 and was released in September 2023. As the chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), he is considered a prominent moderate separatist leader with a history of engaging in dialogue with the Central government.

Among the separatist political parties, the Mirwaiz faction is the only one which has held negotiations with New Delhi at the highest level. On January 22, 2004, he led a delegation comprising Bilal Gani Lone, Abdul Gani Bhat, Moulana Abbas Ansari and Fazl-ulHaq Qureshi to meet the then Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in the national capital for official talks.

On September 6, 2005, the Mirwaiz-led delegation held another round of talks with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the first term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The second round of talks was held with Singh on May 3, 2006.

The Mirwaiz is the chief cleric of Kashmir, who leads prayers at Jamia Masjid, the grand old mosque of Srinagar. After his release in September 2023, he had addressed a crowd at Jamia Masjid, expressing concern over the lack of space for voicing opinions. Shortly after, he was placed under house arrest again. In January 2024, he was allowed to travel to New Delhi for the first time since his detention but faced restrictions after his return. He eventually resumed leading Friday prayers on March 15, attended by thousands. However, in April, he was again placed under house arrest. During the assembly elections, he was placed under detention yet again. After the poll process ended, he was released and led Friday prayers at the Jamia Masjid.