“Giving sermons his only fault”: Pulwama preacher’s family awaits sole breadwinner

Pulwama: It has been over 15 months since a preacher from south Kashmir was picked up from his residence and shifted to a jail in Agra, but his wife and little daughter are still moving from pillar to post to get him released.

Ashiq Ahmed Rather alias Ashiq Salfi used to lead prayers at a local mosque in Wuyen Pampore. A day before the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year, he was asked to report at the nearby police station.

Salfi, a resident of Kunjipora Pulwama, did as directed to never return. “He was detained and, after a couple of days, booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) and shifted to Agra Jail, in Uttar Pradesh,” Kashmir News Trust quoted his wife, Ghazala, as saying.

“Since August 4, 2019, I have met him just once after the intervention of the court. Due to the situation post-abrogation and outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, his case isn’t listed for hearing.”

“I have one little daughter. He was our sole bread earner, so I don’t have so much means to get him out of the jail. His only fault is that he used to give religious sermons in the mosque,” Ghazala said.

Ghazala requested the authorities to release her husband on humanitarian grounds.” I don’t know how he is. But we can’t afford a meeting with him at Agra Jail,” she told KNT.