Hobson’s Choice amid crackdown’: Mirwaiz on removing ‘Hurriyat chairman’ title from X profile

Kashmir cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq removed “Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference” from his X profile after authorities warned of account suspension under UAPA, following the ban on Hurriyat constituents. He called it a “Hobson’s choice” to maintain communication with the public

Srinagar: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chief cleric and a moderate separatist voice in the Kashmir Valley, has removed his designation as ‘Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference’ from his verified X profile.

Mirwaiz said he was compelled to make the change, calling it a “Hobson’s choice”, after authorities warned that his account would be taken down in view of the ban on the Hurriyat constituents under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

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The bio on the Mirwaiz’s X handle, edited on Thursday evening, only contains his name and basic location details now. He has more than two lakh followers.

“For some time now, I was being pressed by the authorities to make changes to my X (formerly Twitter) handle as Hurriyat chairman, as all constituents of Hurriyat Conference, including the Awami Action Committee that I head have been banned under the UAPA, making Hurriyat a banned organisation, failing which they will take down my handle.

“At a time when public space and avenues of communication stand severely restricted, this platform remains among the very few means available to me to reach out to my people and share my views on our issues with them, and the outside world. Under such circumstances, it is a Hobson’s choice I was left to make,” Mirwaiz said on X.

The Mirwaiz, whose own organisation Awami Action Committee has been banned by the Centre under the stringent anti-terror law, was not immediately available for comments.

Formed in 1993, the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was an alliance of separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, wielding enough influence to coordinate mass shutdowns and political mobilisations.

However, the organisation’s dominance eroded over the last decade due to several factors, including infighting and later a crackdown by the Centre that significantly tightened its approach towards separatist groups.

After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the Centre banned most of the constituent organisations of the APHC. Many of its senior leaders have since been arrested or booked under stringent laws or have withdrawn from public activity entirely.