By 1990 the Hindus had fled the Kashmir valley and those who stayed back were systematically targeted. The then Governor of J&K Mr. Jagmohan wanted to control the rapidly deteriorating situation. On one hand he came heavily on the Pakistan sponsored separatist and terrorist activities and on the other hand Mirwaiz Farooq Shah started comprehending the conspiracies of Pakistan. Hence, despite being a part of the separatist activities of Pakistan, he now desired peace in Kashmir valley, the smallest part of the J&K state. He started sending feelers to the Governor and the center for talks. Pakistan was aware of the fact that Mirwaiz Farooq Shah was trying to go out of their clutches and in anticipation of this situation, Pakistan had already played its cards. Mirwaiz is a position of the Head, who can read the Khutbah. There was no Mirwaiz in Anatnag district when Islam arrived in J&K. In order to decrease the power and position of Mirwaiz Farooq Shah, who was Mirwaiz of Jama Masjid, Down Town of Srinagar Pakistan got one more Mirwaiz appointed in South Kashmir.

 

Mirwaiz Farooq Shah was unhappy with this development and held it against Pakistan. He knew it well by now that Pakistan was using him. With the Hindus fleeing Kashmir in 1990, Pakistan was confident that the entire Kashmir is on its side and it is just a matter of time when Pakistan will take over Kashmir. However, as time passed, Pakistan started losing its grip on Kashmir and this made the terrorist country very uncomfortable. In this changing scenario Pakistan planned to create such circumstances which would further disturb peace in valley. Killing Mirwaiz Farooq Shah was the best bet. With his desire for peace, Shah did not serve any purpose for Pakistan’s separatist agenda, a replacement of his was already in place, the South Kashmir Mirwaiz and above all the killing of the Mirwaiz would put the Governor under more pressure and create more commotion in the valley.

 

 

The Pakistan army officers and the ISI though made a good plan of Mirwaiz Farooq Shah’s murder followed by violence, but they made a mistake. To execute this plan, they had formed two teams, one for the killing and the other to spread violence and commotion. Due to some reason the killing did not take place at the stipulated time, but the team responsible to create commotion was not aware of the delay, so they started spreading the news of murder of Mirwaiz Farooq Shah in entire Down Town. Gradually the condition started deteriorating in Srinagar. When Mirwaiz Farooq Shah heard the news of his murder, he came out of his house to tell the mob that he is alive!! After some time Ayub Dar, terrorist from Hizbul Mujahidin shot Mirwaiz Farooq Shah dead. He was caught later and was awarded capital punishment.

 

 

When Mirwaiz Farooq Shah was killed Umar Farooq was 16 years old. He later became the Mirwaiz. With the passage of time everyone came to know about the Pakistan conspiracy behind Mirwaiz Farooq Shah’s killing. Years after the killing, one of the separatist leaders, Abdul Gani Bhat from Srinagar, in a meeting of Hurriyat Conference, openly admitted that all the people sitting here know that the Indian army or Indian agencies had no role in the murders of Mirwaiz Farooq Shah and Abdul Gani Lone, and even their families know this. In this meeting Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the son of Mirwaiz Farooq Shah and Sajjad Lone, son of Abdul Gani Lone were also present, but neither of them dared to utter a single word on this statement of Bhat. Gradually Prof Abdul Gani Bhat became insignificant in Hurriyat because the operators of Hurriyat from Pakistan, did not appreciate his factual statements. In 2011 he again repeated this statement in one seminar in Srinagar. It is surprising that Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, never contradicted this statement nor did he respond to Prof Bhat.

 

It is ironical that instead of exposing Pakistan, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is busy playing the “Friday Game” in Jama Masjid of Down town. The same Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, whose father was murdered by Pakistan, instigated the Kashmiri youth. This is the same Jama Masjid, where after the Namaz the youth play the game of stone pelting.

 

 

 

On every Friday, in Jam Masjid after the Namaz, and the anti-India speech of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, some youth come out from the Masjid with their faces covered with cloth and they start pelting stones. These stone pelters are given vast coverage not only by the local media but even by the international media. After sometime, these stone pelters just camouflage themselves in the crowd coming out from the Masjid and vanish. The locals call it “Friday Game”. The sole purpose of this routine of ‘Friday Game’ is to tell the world that Kashmir is a disturbed area and there is a revolt going on against India yet the reality is entirely different.