Rush Hour: Kashmir chief cleric ‘detained’ on Eid, Congress seeks law on SC, ST quotas and more

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Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has alleged that he was detained at home ahead of Eid prayers on Monday. He questioned why congregational prayers were barred at Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid, saying that it reflected an “oppressive and authoritarian approach.”

Farooq said that even during the peak of militancy in the 1990s, Eid prayers were held at the Eidgah.

“So now when huge claims of normalcy are made everyday by the authorities, why are Muslims being kept away from their religious places and practices?” he asked.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board, Darakhshan Andrabi had on Sunday cited construction work as the reason why Eid prayers had been barred at the Eidgah grounds. Read more.

The Congress has asked the Centre to move in a law to ensure reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in private non-minority educational institutions. Party MP Jairam Ramesh said that a parliamentary panel also made a demand on similar lines last week.

Ramesh said that a constitutional provision allowing for quotas in public and private educational institutions, except for minority-run ones, came into...

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