After three decades, Shia community in Srinagar takes out Muharram procession on Gurubazaar-Dalgate route

The procession was taken out by members of the community after permission was granted by the Jammu and Kashmir administration.

The 8th Muharram processions were taken out through the traditional route for the first time in 34 years on Thursday, with the Jammu and Kashmir administration revoking a 1989 ban which prohibited mourners from marching from Gurubazar to Dalgate in Srinagar.

The administration had, however, set a time window for the processions. In its order on Wednesday, the administration asked processionists not to “indulge in any anti-national/anti-establishment speeches/sloganeering or propaganda.”

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Mourners assembled at the Guru Bazar area of the city and marched through Budshah Chowk to MA Road and then Dalgate. Tight security was deployed all across the routes, and stringent conditions were put in place to ensure no untoward incident took place.

The permission for the processions was banned in 1990 after the armed insurgency broke out in Kashmir as the government saw processionists as being soft towards the separatist movement.

However despite the ban, people from the Shia Muslim community used to take out processions on 8th and 10th Muharram on these routes, which the police used to respond to with force. The 8th Muharram processions were traditionally organised by Ittihadul Muslimeen, a constituent of the separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference, and a large number of Sunni people also took part in it.

The Muharram, which is the first month of Islamic calendar, marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. Hussain, along with his family members and companions were martyred in the battle of Karbala around 1400 years ago in present day Iraq.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said for the first time Muharram procession was taken out peacefully in Srinagar after a gap of over 30 years. “Feeling satisfied, mourners are now returning to their homes,” he said.

The L-G said that street violence no longer exists in Kashmir and that people suffered a lot due to shutdown calls in the past. “Street violence that was once a routine in the Valley, no longer exists in Kashmir. At one point of time, shutdown calls were a regular feature but people were the ultimate sufferers,” he said.