Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed concern over restrictions that, according to several political leaders, prevented them from offering condolences to the family of the late former Hurriyat leader, Professor Abdul Gani Bhat.
Political leaders Mehbooba Mufti, Sajad Lone and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq alleged that they were confined to their homes on Wednesday and Thursday to stop them from attending Bhat’s funeral in Sopore. Professor Bhat, a former chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, passed away on Wednesday evening after a prolonged illness.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, in a post on X, wrote, “The decision to place political leadership under house arrest today, simply to stop us from visiting Sopore to offer condolences on the demise of Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, lays bare the harsh and undemocratic reality in Jammu and Kashmir. What unfolded at Hazratbal Dargah—the eruption of spontaneous, raw public anger—was not just an isolated incident. It was a loud, unmistakable message from a people pushed to the edge. The BJP, however, remains willfully blind to this truth, refusing to learn from the deep anguish and suppressed emotions building for years now. It is becoming increasingly clear that the BJP has no interest in peace or healing in Kashmir. Instead, they seem determined to keep the region in constant turmoil, weaponizing pain and unrest for political mileage across the country. This cynical approach is not just irresponsible; it is dangerous and utterly reprehensible.”
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People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone also posted on X, “I have been put under house arrest in order to prevent me from visiting Botingoo, the ancestral village of Professor Ghani sahib. I fail to understand the need for this. Professor sahib was a pacifist and long retired. A final goodbye is something we all deserved.”
Similarly, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq wrote on his X handle, “It pains me beyond words that the authorities compelled the family of Prof. Sb to conclude his janazah hurriedly. I have been locked inside my home and denied the right to walk with him in his final journey. My association with him spanned 35 years of friendship and guidance. So many others, too, longed to pay their last respects. To be deprived of even the solace of participating in his janazah and bidding him a final goodbye is an unbearable cruelty.”
However, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has not issued any official statement regarding the leaders’ claims of house arrest.
Reacting to the matter on the sidelines of an event in Gulmarg, Omar Abdullah said, “Are the security personnel so scared that they don’t even let us go for condolences? The administration claims that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has returned to normal. What would have happened if Mehbooba Mufti or Sajad Gani Lone had gone to Professor Bhat’s house for condolences? Placing politicians under house arrest simply to offer condolences shows a lack of trust in their own people and contradicts the narrative of a peaceful region.”
Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, aged 90, was a long-retired figure in Kashmir’s separatist politics. He served as chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and was known for advocating dialogue between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
Bhat was removed as chief of the Muslim Conference in 2017 after meeting the Union government’s Special Representative. The Muslim Conference was later declared an unlawful association by the Union Home Ministry in 2024.
He was also a founding member of the Muslim United Front (MUF), which contested the 1987 state elections. Many observers believe the widespread rigging of those elections fueled the rise of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir in the late 1980s.
