In a significant development, moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has been granted permission to deliver the Friday sermon at Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid after being barred for four consecutive weeks. The decision comes in the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Valley following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed at least 26 lives, most of them tourists from other Indian states.
