Srinagar: Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq completed four years under “arbitrary and extrajudicial detention” on Saturday, August 5, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.A spokesperson of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) said that Mirwaiz was placed under house arrest on August 4, 2019, a day ahead of the BJP-led Union government’s decision to read down Article 370 and downgrade Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.“Without any written order or any charges against him, APHC chairman is undergoing arbitrary and extrajudicial detention, leading to the suspension of all his fundamental human rights and freedoms, and his responsibilities as the Mirwaiz of J&K,” the APHC said in a statement.When J&K was a state, the Hurriyat chairman, who is also the chief cleric of Kashmir, used to lead Friday prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar. Last month, a protest was held by his followers and some worshippers who also raised slogans inside the mosque to demand his “unconditional release”.However, the J&K administration has denied that Mirwaiz is under house arrest, with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha reiterating on Saturday, August 5, that there were no curbs on the movement of the moderate Hurriyat chairman.“He is not under detention. There are no restrictions on his movement. He can go anywhere,” Sinha told a national daily.The Hurriyat, however, rejected Sinha’s claims, again. “What is ironic is that the state authorities at the highest level deny this (house arrest of Mirwaiz) and say he is free while a police and paramilitary contingent remains permanently stationed outside his house disallowing him from leaving it (sic),” the Hurriyat spokesperson said.Last year, The Wire tried to meet the Hurriyat leader at his residence in Srinagar’s Nigeen locality. However, the police and paramilitary forces deployed at the main gate refused to give access to the residence. Authorities have not specified the charges under which Mirwaiz has been detained.Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Photo: FilesIn 2019, a report claimed that Mirwaiz had signed a bond to secure his release from house arrest along with two leaders from the National Conference and one leader each from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peoples Conference. The bond, reportedly signed under Section 107 of the CrPC, prohibited Mirwaiz and others from making “political speeches”.Mirwaiz had rejected the claim that he signed a bond to secure his release.Over the last four years, Mirwaiz has consistently criticised the BJP-led Union government’s policies and raised the issue of Kashmir in his media statements, while calling for the release of the prisoners who were arrested in the aftermath of the reading down of Article 370 and are presently languishing in different jails across the country.The Hurriyat said that it “will continue to safeguard the rights and interests of people of J&K and advocate dialogue, good neighbourly relations, peaceful coexistence and brotherhood among communities”.“Jailing Kashmiri political leadership, cadres, activists ….. as a means of establishing peace and an approach to problem solving is the way of the current dispensation. What is to be seen is how long this approach is followed and implemented,” the Hurriyat statement said.As an influential separatist leader, Mirwaiz was also part of a delegation of the moderate Hurriyat leaders who participated in the bilateral talks between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. The delegation also met the then deputy prime minister and senior BJP leader L .K. Advani in 2004.The talks suffered a setback in 2009 in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks and, back in Kashmir, the moderates were grilled by the hawks in the Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Geelani for participating in India-Pakistan rapprochement at the cost of the Kashmir issue.Security beefed up on August 5, political leaders under ‘house arrest’Security was beefed up across Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, which marked the fourth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Peoples Democratic Party president and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti alleged that she was put under house arrest.The PDP chief had planned to lead a rally against the reading down of Article 370. But the party said that besides Mehbooba, some of its senior leaders, such as former J&K ministers Naeem Akhtar and A.R. Veeri among others, were either put under house arrest or detained at police stations.The National Conference led by Farooq Abdullah also alleged that its party office in Srinagar was “locked down” by the authorities.“True to form and in keeping with the clampdown on mainstream democratic activities organised by parties opposed to 5th Aug 2019, the JKNC office has been sealed by the police. No one is being allowed in or out of the office,” the party said.Authorities, however, allowed a BJP rally in Srinagar for celebrating the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, while a public programme was also organised by the party in the capital city. The party said that the decision has “brought peace, development and prosperity to J&K”.National Conference vice-president and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah had also demanded the release of Mirwaiz after authorities eased some restrictions on the Muharram processions in Srinagar.“Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is a religious leader and he should be released. Prayers should be allowed at Jamia Masjid without any curbs and Eid prayer should be allowed at Eidgah,” Abdullah had said.Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid, the managing body of the mosque where Mirwaiz led Friday prayers, also issued a statement on Saturday demanding his release. “While all other religious activities are permitted and in fact facilitated by the authorities, it is openly discriminatory that he (Mirwaiz) is barred from his duties.”In its statement, the Hurriyat said that Mirwaiz has “always advocated and led initiatives for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir conflict … at personal cost” but he is “being persecuted and imprisoned”.The Hurriyat also blamed the government for “arresting youth on a daily basis, terminating Kashmiris from employment, framing and executing laws that disempower local people, engineering demographic change, gagging media and seizing resources” in Jammu and Kashmir.