Kashmir cleric Mirwaiz Farooq removes Hurriyat chairman tag from X under pressure

Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, announced on Friday that he had removed the Hurriyat chairman designation from his X (formerly Twitter) handle, describing the move as a “Hobson’s choice” following pressure from authorities.

The Hindu reported that speaking to the media, the Mirwaiz said he had been asked to make changes to his social media handle because all constituents of the Hurriyat Conference, including the Awami Action Committee which he leads, have been banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), rendering the Hurriyat a prohibited organisation.

Authorities had warned that failure to comply would result in the deletion of his account.

“At a time when public space and avenues of communication are severely restricted, this platform remains among the very few means available to me to reach out to my people and share my views on our issues with them and the outside world. Under such circumstances, it is a Hobson’s choice I was left to make,” he said.

Mirwaiz Farooq was the first chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a separatist amalgam formed in 1993 comprising political groups, traders’ bodies and civil society organisations. The APHC has long framed Kashmir as a disputed territory and has called for the implementation of United Nations resolutions on the region.