SRINAGAR: While Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah reiterated on Monday that J&K Waqf Board should not have placed a plaque inside the Hazratbal shrine, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said she would approach a court if the police did not register an FIR against J&K Waqf Board chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi.“They (Waqf Board) have not acknowledged their first mistake, of installing a plaque in the shrine, nor have they apologised for it. When people’s sentiments came to the fore, the administration’s anger was directed at them instead. First of all, we need answers for the act that led to this situation. What was the need to install that plaque there? The present structure of the Hazratbal shrine was created by Sheikh Abdullah, and you will not find his plaque anywhere,” Omar said.According to NC’s Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah, Jammu and Kashmir police have detained more than 30 people for allegedly defacing a plaque bearing the National Emblem inside Kashmir’s most revered shrine on Friday. Police have not issued any statement on the detentions so far.PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said her party would approach Hazratbal police station for the registration of an FIR against Andrabi for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Muslims by placing a plaque with the National Emblem inside the shrine. In a post on X, the former CM claimed PDP had approached “Nigeen police station” to file an FIR “but it was denied”. “I urge @JmuKmrPolice to initiate an FIR immediately given the gravity of the offence — deliberately hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims, thereby provoking them,” Mehbooba said. Her daughter, PDP representative Iltija Mufti, claimed, “Laws in Kashmir are being turned upside down on their head by being applied inversely. Instead of filing an FIR against the waqf chairperson for wilfully hurting religious sentiments of Muslims, police have caved in to her threatening orders by booking 50 civilians. No accountability for her hurtful irresponsible actions.”Andrabi, at the centre of controversy, is visiting shrines. On Sunday evening she visited Aasar-e-Sharif Jinab Sahib Soura Shrine Srinagar. After the visit she wrote on X, “Prayed for peace and harmony for all. Took stock of the ongoing construction works at the shrine campus, including the new grand mosque. Also reviewed facilities for devotees.”At the mausoleum of NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on the latter’s 43rd death anniversary, NC politicians, including education minister Sakina Itoo, said the FIR in the case should be withdrawn and all “detainees should be released”. The minister sought action against the Waqf Board for “misusing the National Emblem”.J&K BJP spokesman Sajid Yousuf Shah said “whatever has happened at the Hazratbal shrine is debatable, whether a plaque with the National Emblem should have been there or not. But attacking the emblem and disrespecting the shrine is condemnable.” “Those who committed this heinous act are backed by political parties to divert public attention to hide their failures.” He said he expected “harsh punishment” for the culprits, “including those glorifying and shielding them”, and demanded that those who had “vandalised the Ashoka emblem must be booked under the PSA (J&K Public Safety Act).”
