Srinagar, Aug 3 (KNS): In connection with the holy days of Ashura in the ongoing month of Muharram-ul-Haram, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU) Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday held an emergency and extraordinary meeting of the Shia-Sunni Coordination Alliance at the office of the Central Jama Masjid Srinagar, which was presided over by the MMU district president Islamabad (Anantnag) and famous scholar Dr Peerzada Muhammad Sameer Shafi Siddiqui.
According to a statement, issued to Kashmir News Service (KNS), among the scholars and personalities who participated and expressed opinion during the meeting included Agha Syed Mujtaba Abbas of Anjuman Shari’an Shia Jammu and Kashmir, Haji Ghulam Muhammad Nagoo, Bashir Mohsin of Jammu and Kashmir Shia Association, Haji Muhammad Amin, Muhammad Yusuf Wani, Sajid Hussain Mir, Moulana Khursheed Ahmed Qanungo of Anjuman Himayat-ul-Islam, Syed Yousuf Rizvi of Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen Jammu and Kashmir, Peer Rehmatullah of Bazm-e-Tawheed Ahle Hadith, Moulana Syed Waris Shah Bukhari, the head of the Markazi Raabta Aima Wa Masaajid Jammu and Kashmir (Central Coordinator of the Imams of the mosques of Jammu and Kashmir), Mufti Ghulam Rasool Samoon of Anjuman Auqaf Jama Masjid Srinagar, Civil Society Kashmir’s Syed Shakeel Ahmed Qalandar, social leader Haji Showkat Ahmad Khanyari, Qari Muhammad Aslam Raheemi, Syed Ghulam Nabi Bukhari Trali, renowned journalist Imdad Saqi, Abdul Qayoom Wani, Muhammad Ashraf Dar, Tariq Ahmad Zagar, Tariq Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad and the MMU Secretary Moulana M S Rehman Shams and others.
The statement reads that in view of Ashura in Muharram, the speakers stressed the consolidation and promotion of unity between the two major sections of Muslims – Shia and Sunni, and in this context, they strongly condemned the uploading of offensive and seditious statements by some evil elements on social media.
“It was made clear that there is no option but to rein in such unrestrained elements and called for moral action against those elements who from time to time are seeking to create divisions and sow the seeds of disunity between the Kashmiri nation.”
It reads that in the meeting, the distinguished speakers presented several concrete and important suggestions to strengthen the cause of inter-Muslim unity in Jammu and Kashmir at all levels, which will be followed in the near future.
The speakers in the meeting emphasised that during Ashura, Muslims must keep the torch of unity among them lit at all costs and thwart the plans of the anti-unity elements with their thoughts and actions.
The statement reads that during the meeting, the speakers strongly reacted to the completion of three years of illegal and arbitrary detention of the founder and patron of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Dr Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq, and appealed to the authorities to end the continued detention of Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir and ensure his release so he can discharge his official responsibilities towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The participants also addressed a press conference and clarified the purpose of the extraordinary meeting. (KNS)