By Bilal Bashir Bhat for TwoCircles.net,
Srinagar: The first Friday prayers of the sacred month of Ramadan could not be offered at the historic Jamia Masjid and other shrines with curfew like situation in Kashmir valley in view of the proposed march towards Sopore to protest the target killings in the town.
Thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers armed with riot gears were deployed in every nook and corner of Srinagar and Baramulla districts. With the security restrictions, police and paramilitary soldiers did not allow Muslim worshippers in Kashmir to visit mosques and shrines and offer Friday congregational prayers at Jamai Masjid.
No Friday congregational prayers could be offered in historic Jamia Masjid in old city and hundreds of other mosques and shrines. The chief clerk of the central Jamia Masjid Srinagar, and Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been placed under house arrest since Thursday noon.
Preventive restrictions under section 144 remained in force at Khanyar, Rainawari, Nowhatta, M R Gunj, Safa Kadal, Parimpora and Maisuma areas of the city, a senior police officer said.
[Photo by Basit Zargar]