New Delhi: As war and insecurity continue to take a toll across West Asia, three prominent Muslim religious leaders from Kashmir met Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in New Delhi to express solidarity with the Iranian people. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Saturday (September 12) evening. The leaders urged restraint, diplomacy and greater unity within the Muslim world.Earlier, on Friday, Kashmir’s chief cleric had also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in the national capital.Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric and chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, along with Shia clerics Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi Al Safavi and Imran Reza Ansari, in their meeting with Araghchi on Saturday discussed the worsening regional situation and the civilian costs of continuing conflict.The delegation of Kashmiri clerics expressed their concern over the killing of civilians, destruction of homes and infrastructure and the atmosphere of fear created by the war in Iran. They also referred to the continuing devastation in Palestine as well as the instability and loss of life in Lebanon, describing the expanding cycle of violence as a grave threat to regional peace.“War only multiplies human suffering. However serious the differences may be, endless confrontation cannot resolve them. Ultimately, even the most difficult disputes have to return to dialogue, engagement and negotiation,” Mirwaiz has written in a letter to Pezeshkian.For the Kashmiri clerics, the meeting carried a significance that went beyond contemporary geopolitics. It also drew on a centuries-old cultural and religious relationship between Kashmir and Iran.In a post on X, Mirwaiz noted that he and the two other religious leaders met Pezeshkian and Araghchi. He thanked Iranian ambassador Mohammad Fathali for facilitating the meetings.It was indeed a pleasure to meet with H.E. President of Iran Dr Masoud Pezeshkian ( @drpezeshkian ) and Foreign Minister Mr.Abbas Araghchi ( @araghchi ) during their visit to New Delhi for the BRICS Summit. My gratitude to ambassador Mohammad Fathali (@iranambindia ) for facilitating these meetings. During the two day Interactions I was joined by Aga Syed Hassan sb ( @mosaviaga ) and Molvi Imran Ansari sb ( @imranrezaansari )Conveyed our solidarity with the people of Iran at this difficult time and reiterated our consistent belief that war and aggression on Iran should end, confrontation cannot resolve issues; however grave the differences, the way forward is ultimately through dialogue, diplomacy and engagement.I expressed that unity within the Muslim Ummah- not allowing political conflicts or sectarian differences to divide us, amid growing Islamophobia and the immense suffering inflicted upon Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, is the most important safeguard against it.Recalling our centuries-old cultural and historical relationship with Iran, in which Persian scholarship, literature, art, craft and spiritually left a deep imprint on Kashmir, I presented them with a specially crafted walnut-wood model of the historic Jama Masjid Srinagar, celebrating this bond between the people of Kashmir and Iran.— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) September 13, 2026Mirwaiz, in his letter addressed to Pezeshkian that he handed over to Araghchi, said the scale of the crisis demanded “wisdom, restraint and statesmanship” rather than further escalation.The appeal also had an explicitly intra-Muslim dimension.At a time when Muslims across different parts of the world are facing insecurity and Islamophobia, Mirwaiz called for larger bonds of faith, brotherhood and shared humanity to fill political and sectarian differences.“The suffering of people in Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere should bring us closer in compassion and responsibility, not push us further apart,” he said.Mirwaiz also used the occasion to recall the longstanding links between Iran and Kashmir and invoked memories that remain embedded in Srinagar’s religious and cultural life.He referred to Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid and its association with Iran, including a commemorative gathering held there after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. He also recalled Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s visit to Kashmir in the years following the Iranian Revolution, when he addressed the Friday congregation at the Jamia Masjid in the presence of Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq.As a symbol of those ties, he presented Araghchi with a specially crafted walnut-wood souvenir depicting the Jamia Masjid.The Kashmiri delegation also situated its appeal within South Asia’s own history of prolonged conflict.Mirwaiz said the region had experienced the human cost of unresolved disputes and sustained tensions, and argued that this experience reinforced the importance of keeping channels of dialogue open.He suggested that India, with its association with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of ahimsa (non-violence), could contribute to international efforts favouring restraint and diplomacy.“The grave challenges facing our world cannot be settled through ever-widening wars,” Mirwaiz said. “Human dignity has no sect or nationality, and every innocent life is precious.”Remembering children killed in MinabThe Kashmiri clerics’ engagement in Delhi also extended to an exhibition organised by the Iranian embassy to commemorate the children killed in Minab in an attack that Iran and several investigations have attributed to the United States.Mirwaiz and Ansari attended the exhibition, according to statements issued by their representatives.A spokesperson for Mirwaiz said he had joined the event at the invitation of the Iranian ambassador and was scheduled to participate in an interaction with Pezeshkian alongside religious leaders, intellectuals and other dignitaries.