Jammu and Kashmir’s chief cleric and religious scholar Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Dr Muhammad Sameer Shafi Siddiqui have openly come in support of the National Conference’s rebel parliamentarian Aga Ruhullah Mehdi over his stance on Articles 370 and 35(A) and the region’s special status and semi-autonomy.
The Srinagar-based head priest Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said it was not only Aga Mehdi’s moral responsibility to stand up for the peoples’ rights, but all Unionists should summon the courage to defend “constitutional rights and guarantees of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“These politicians should at least stand up for the rights of the people. They should honour their own commitments and promises made in the manifesto,” the Mirwaiz said.
He acknowledged that other issues such as hike in electricity tariff, clean drinking water supply and roads were also important issues, but “when it comes to our very existence and rights, every other issue takes a backseat.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by another cleric Dr Sameer Siddiqui.
“Respected @RuhullahMehdi Sahab, your answer is not only your’s. It reflects the deep seated sentiments manifested in the collective conscience of the entire Jammu and Kashmir. Your constitutionally justified and democratically upright struggle today will go a long way down the memory lane into the future to become a frame of reference for our posterity. Come what may, we are with you,” he wrote on X while highlighting the contents of the letter shot by Aga Mehdi to the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.
