‘Sher-e-Kashmir established Hazratbal shrine…’: J-K CM Omar questions Waqf Board over emblem row

SRINAGAR(Jammu and Kashmir): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday questioned the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board over the installation of a foundation stone bearing the national emblem at the Hazratbal shrine, which was vandalised by a mob last week.

Speaking to reporters on the reported detention of 25 people in connection with the incident, CM Omar said the plaque itself was unnecessary. “First of all, please explain to me what the need was to put up that stone. Sher-e-Kashmir established the Hazratbal shrine. However, he never put his name on it anywhere because it was not necessary,” he said.

PDP leader Iltija Mufti accused the Waqf Board chairperson of provoking religious sentiments by placing the emblem at the shrine. She said her party’s attempt to lodge a police complaint over the alleged provocation had not received any response from authorities, while “innocent people” continued to face detentions.

#WATCH | Pulwama, J&K | On reports of 25 people detained in tarnishing the national emblem at Hazratbal shrine case, J&K CM Omar Abdullah says, “… First of all, please explain to me what the need was to put up that stone… Sher-e-Kashmir established the Hazratbal shrine.… pic.twitter.com/9TdGUGkJIt

— ANI (@ANI) September 8, 2025

“The PDP is attempting to file an FIR against the J-K Waqf Board Chairman. We have not received a positive response yet. The law in Kashmir is working inversely. Innocent people have been detained while no action has been taken against the Waqf Chairperson, who mistreated the religious sentiments of the Muslim majority here, and provoked them,” she said.

She said the controversy was not about patriotism or nationalism but about the Waqf Board’s decision to place the emblem in a manner that hurt religious sentiments.

“The point is not about the emblem. Don’t make it about patriotism or nationalism. They are conflating it. Some things are strictly prohibited in Islam, at the top of which is ‘idol worship’. This is not about the emblem, but where you should have placed the emblem. The Waqf Board should have known better,” Mufti said.

The controversy erupted after a mob vandalised the Ashoka emblem on the foundation stone at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, sparking a heated debate over national symbols and religious sentiments.

Earlier, National Conference MLA Tanvir Sadiq stated that they respected the Ashok Chakra, but claimed that it had been “misused” by Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board Chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi. (ANI)