Imam of Dargah Hazratbal, Muhammad Sayed Farooqui, on Friday strongly condemned civilian killings by forces in the past six days.
Just before Friday ‘khutba’ (sermon), Farooqui condemned, in very strong words, the civilian killings.
He also prayed to Allah to accept the martyrdom of people slain by the forces, as people reciprocated with ‘ameen’.
Earlier, the entire Hazratbal area was sealed and the local Waqf Management had been directed by police to not use loudspeakers during Friday prayers. Only local residents were allowed to offer Friday prayers, leading to thinning of attendance of devotees by about 80 percent.