Omar Abdullah slams Jammu and Kashmir LG govt over Eid-e-Milad holiday row

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday criticised Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinhas administration for refusing to reschedule the holiday on EideMiladunNabi despite repeated requestsAbdullah called the move a ldquodeliberaterdquo decision by an unelected government describing it as ldquoinconsiderate and designed to hurt the sentiments of the peoplerdquoldquoThe calendar printed by the government press is very clear lsquoSubject to the appearance of the moonrsquo It means that the holiday is subject to change depending on the sighting of the moonrdquo Abdullah said in a post on X from his personal handleWhile EideMilad is being celebrated in JampK on Saturday as per the Islamic lunar calendar the holiday was observed on Friday in line with the annual holiday list issued earlier by the administrationMinister for Health and Education Sakina Itoo also accused the LG administration of ldquoplaying with the emotions of the peoplerdquoldquoThis is totally unjust EideMilad a sacred occasion for Muslims worldwide is not observed as a holiday on the correct date in JampK What does lsquosubject to the appearance of the moonrsquo mean if it is not followedrdquo Itoo asked on X She added that ldquodespite repeated requestsrdquo no action was taken by the LGrsquos office stressing that such decisions should rest with an elected governmentKashmirrsquos chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also condemned the authorities for failing to reschedule the holidayldquoStrongly condemn the utter disregard of authorities on the revered occasion of EideMiladunNabi who for the second consecutive year have failed to reschedule the holiday in accordance with the actual date disregarding the sentiments of the Muslim communityrdquo Mirwaiz said in a post on XCalling the move ldquodeliberate negligencerdquo Mirwaiz said it was unacceptable to the Muslims of JampK who ldquostrongly protestrdquo it He also criticised the silence of the elected government saying ldquoThey fail to take a stand on any issue of the people of JampK I will also raise this in my Juma Friday sermon at Jama Masjid todayrdquoPeoplersquos Democratic Party PDP leader Iltija Mufti termed the nonrescheduling of the holiday ldquounfortunaterdquoldquoHow unfortunate that a blessed occasion like EideMilad for Muslims all over the world is not even being observed on the correct day in JampKrdquo Mufti said on XShe accused the National Conferenceled government of legitimising and normalising such ldquoatrocious decisionsrdquo despite holding a majorityldquoIndiarsquos only Muslimmajority state doesnrsquot even have the freedom to declare our cherished religious occasionsrdquo she addedThe LG administration has previously refused to alter the Eid holiday as wellThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptions keyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params