Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference denied the charges levelled against him by Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
The CM had said that the Mirwaiz had instigated the mob to go on rampage and set the public property on fire despite an assurance given by them that their demonstration would be peaceful.
Speaking to rediff.com from his residence in downtown Srinagar, the Mirwaiz said "the charges levelled by the chief minister were baseless and unfounded".
The Jammu and Kashmir police has registered a case against Mirwaiz for inciting the mob.The Mirwaiz denied that he had anything to do with the violence.
"Thousands of people marched peacefully on Lal Chowk after offering Eid prayers, the protestors took part in peaceful demonstrations to protest against the killings of innocent Kashmiris rather than spend time with their families and vowed to take the protest to its logical conclusion," the agitated Mirwaiz said in response to a question if it was true that he led the mob and provoked them to set government buildings on fire.
Reacting sharply to the statement made by JK CM Omar Obdullah and Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda, the Mirwaiz said that no permission was sought from the state government before making the announcement at the Eidgah.
He said that even withdrawal Armed Forces Special Power Act would not help. "We want resolution of the Kashmir problem",he said and charged the state government of stage managing violence to divert attention of the world from the real problem-resolution of Kashmir issue," he charged.
He said 'on Eid after I made the announcement at the Eidgah that a peaceful procession was to be taken to Lal Chowk, to register our protest, thousands of people started moving peacefully towards Lal Chowk, not a single stone was hurled at any bunker or camp, nor was there any damage done to public property along the 5 km long road from Eidgah to Lal chowk."
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