Srinagar, Mar 21 (UNI) In his first public address following the ban on the Awami Action Committee (AAC), Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on Friday called for its immediate revocation, emphasising that the AAC stands for peace, dialogue, and social reform.
Last Friday, Mirwaiz, who is also the Hurriyat Conference chairman, was placed under house arrest and barred from offering Friday prayers at Srinagar's Jamia mosque.
While addressing the first Friday congregation at Jamia after the ban, Mirwaiz said it is a known fact that AAC has always advocated the politics of outreach, dialogue and resolution.
“How can those that advocate dialogue be subversive or anti? Dialogue in itself means seeking solutions and resolving disagreements by talking in good faith and peace,” Mirwaiz said.
Mirwaiz recalled past engagements with leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, and Manmohan Singh, stating that despite setbacks—including the assassination of Abdul Gani Lone and his uncle Molvi Mushtaq, the burning of Islamia High School, and attacks on his residence—AAC has kept up the good faith and to till date despite all odds, advocates peaceful engagement.
“It is a different thing that the present ruling dispensation in New Delhi has a different take on the issue. But that does not make AAC an unlawful association,” Mirwaiz said.
Highlighting the organisation’s role, he said that AAC activists have been instrumental in relief and rescue efforts, particularly during the 2014 floods, and continue to provide aid through welfare initiatives, medical camps, and blood donation drives.
“The ban has deeply shocked the people, who revere AAC for its religious, social, and voluntary service, devoid of any political ambition,” Mirwaiz said, calling for its immediate revocation.
"The organisation founded by my late father, Shaheed-e-Millat (Molvi Mohammad Farooq) has been declared ‘illegal’ despite its history of advocating patience and peaceful engagement, even in the face of personal tragedies," Mirwaiz said, questioning the government’s rationale behind the ban.
Tracing AAC’s roots, he recalled how Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah first ignited political consciousness among ‘repressed’ Kashmiris, a legacy carried forward by Molvi Farooq, who established the AAC in 1964 after the Moi-e-Muqaddas agitation which erupted in Kashmir in 1963 after the theft of a Prophet’s relic.
Mirwaiz highlighted his father’s efforts to bridge divides, oppose violence, and urge dialogue—even persuading the V.P. Singh government in the early 1990s to talk to Kashmiri youth who had taken up arms.
"His moral courage was evident when he publicly condemned the abduction of a young woman, calling for her immediate release in line with Islamic and humanitarian principles. I want to ask those who have banned AAC, that is, the Organisation founded by a man of such principles, is it a threat to law and order?” he said.
Mirwaiz recounted his own leadership after his father’s assassination. "At just 16, struck with grief, I stood atop my father’s funeral truck, urging people to remain calm and united, preventing what could have been a civil bloodbath. If AAC upheld peace even then, how can it be a threat to law and order today?" he asked.
UNI MJR ARN