On September 18, 2022, the AIR Twitter account stated in the tweet that Shopian and Pulwama, the twin districts in South Kashmir, have welcomed Multipurpose Cinema Halls under the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. The three decades-long wait was finally over on Tuesday when LG Sinha opened the first multiplex in the Kashmir Valley in the city’s Sonawar neighborhood. Due to militant threats and attacks in the valley in 1989–1990, theatre owners in the area decided to close their theatres, which resulted in the closure of the cinemas for three decades.
Reacting to the AIR’s tweet, the chief of the AIMIM party, Asaduddin Owaisi, targeting Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha claimed that the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar is closed every Friday. Let’s verify the claim by Owaisi.
In our research, we came across the tweet by Srinagar Police. Responding to the tweet by Owaisi, Srinagar police in its tweet explained that Jamia is fully opened, only on 3 occasions post Covid, it was temporarily shut for Friday noon prayers owing to inputs of terror attack/law and order situation. This happened because Jamia administration refused to accept accountability for happenings inside.
Further, in response to the Srinagar police statement, Owaisi shared a screenshot of a report by PTI and Al-Jazeera from 2021, which claims that the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar was shuttered for 45 Fridays in 2021.
Contrary to Owaisi is trying to imply, we found that considering the severity of the Covid 19 pandemic, the MHA issued an advisory dated April 29, 2021, sent to all states and union territories that shopping centres, movie theatres, restaurants, bars, sports facilities, gyms, spas, swimming pools, and places of worship shall stay closed. The following gatherings and assemblages are prohibited: those that are social, political, sporting, entertaining, educational, cultural, religious, or linked to festivals.
Another advisory from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare dated March 1, 2022, specifies that in order to prevent the spread of Covid in places of worship, religious institutions and places of public worship in containment zones must stay closed.
The spread of the Covid 19 epidemic has had a various effects on religion. Many temples, mosques, churches, and other religious buildings were temporarily closed during Covid 19 in order to stop the spread of the disease. Not just in Jammu and Kashmir, but throughout PAN India, adhering to the Covid protocols, religious places were closed. However, after 2021, due to rapid decline in Covid cases, the restriction has been uplifted and religious places are open and functioning normally.
Hence, the claim made by Owaisi is misleading.
| Claim | Jamia Masjid in Srinagar is closed on every Friday |
| Claimed by | Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM Chief |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
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