New Delhi: Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has dropped the title of ‘chairman’ of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) from his X handle, formerly Twitter, citing a verbal directive from the Jammu and Kashmir administration.In a post on X on Friday (December 26), Mirwaiz said that he was “pressed by the authorities… for some time now” to make changes to his X handle which described him as ‘chairman’ of the APHC, an amalgam of separatist outfits which advocated for the resolution of Kashmir problem.A J&K police team of “several high-ranking” officials is believed to have conveyed the directive of the authorities verbally to Mirwaiz who was also the first chairman of the APHC when it was formed in 1993 in the aftermath of the assassination of his father Mirwaiz Farooq.For some time now, I was being pressed by the authorities to make changes to my X (formerly Twitter) handle as Hurriyat chairman, as all constituents of Hurriyat Conference, including the Awami Action Committee that I head have been banned under the UAPA, making Hurriyat a banned…— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) December 26, 2025The APHC was widely seen as a vehicle of dialogue for Kashmiri militants with the government of India in the backdrop of the eruption of armed insurgency in the early 1990s.“I told them (police officials) that Hurriyat is not a banned organisation, so what is the issue? They said that as all the constituents of the Hurriyat are banned, so it stands banned and it is against the law that you are posting tweets as head of a banned organisation,” Mirwaiz said.All the separatist outfits affiliated with the Hurriyat in Kashmir were banned by the Union government under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the years following the reading down of Article 370.At its peak, the Hurriyat had three factions and its top leadership including Mirwaiz has been engaged by both the Congress as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central governments at different times in the past for talks .The Hurriyat’s present crop of leadership is languishing in jails under terrorism and other charges.Mirwaiz said that he was warned that his X handle could be taken down if he didn’t oblige.“At a time when public space and avenues of communication stand 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 on X.“It is very sad that we are being coerced in all manner. This is no reflection on my stand and association which is as clear as always on the fundamental question of resolution (of Kashmir) for which Hurriyat stands,” Mirwaiz told The Wire.A close aide of Mirwaiz said that the authorities also conveyed to him on Friday that he won’t be allowed to lead the congregational afternoon prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar’s downtown.Authorities have stopped the Mirwaiz in the past also from offering the Friday prayers at the mosque in Nowhatta locality, citing apprehensions of law and order problems in the old city area.