Hardening his pitch over the bid to unfurl an Islamic State (IS) flag inside Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid recently, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Wednesday said, “The December 28 incident is highly condemnable act. It has left the entire valley in a deep shock and hurt their sentiments. It’s time to isolate those elements who are trying to damage and violate the sanctity of the grand masjid. People of J&K should maintain strict vigil.”

A group of masked youth tried to unfurl an IS flag atop the pulpit of the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on December 28.

In Srinagar’s old city, which houses the 624-year-old mosque, the Mirwaiz held a meeting at the Mirwaiz Manzil, Razia Kadal, on Wednesday and described the incident as “sacrilegious”.

“The December 28 incident is highly condemnable act. It has left the entire valley in a deep shock and hurt their sentiments. It's time to isolate those elements who are trying to damage and violate the sanctity of the grand masjid. People of J&K should maintain strict vigil,” said the Mirwaiz.

He urged the people to stay united on this. “Unity among all sects will not allow these elements to damage our religious and social fabric and ethos,” he added.

The participants in the meeting pledged “to not allow any such incidents to happen again”. The Mirwaiz, backed by other separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is holding a joint protest on coming Friday at the mosque.

“The old city has always been the epicenter of Kashmir’s spiritual religious quest and its political ideology and the pulpit of Jamia Masjid has represented both. Nobody will be allowed to tamper with the centrality of Jamia Masjid and what it stands for,” the Mirwaiz, who is also the head priest, said. He also performed an ablution of the mosque in the wake of the desceration.

44 civilians killed by militants in 2018: DGP Singh

Meanwhile, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh on Wednesday said a total of 423 people were killed in 2018, including 252 militants, 91 civilians, 45 policeman, five CRPF and 30 Army soldiers in around 97 operations.

“Of 97 operations, 83 witnessed no collateral damage. Out of 91 civilians deaths, 44 were killed by militants and 38 lost their lives near encounter sites,” said DGP Singh in a press conference in Srinagar.

The DGP appealed to youth of the Valley to safeguard their precious lives. “Police and other security forces have always exercised maximum restraint. I will again appeal them to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the situation,” said the DGP.

He said it was painful to see youth picking up arms and getting killed. “Killing militants is a success but at the same times losing lives is painful and cannot be a thing to be celebrated. I hope the New Year will be a better year and the graph of violence comes down,” said the DGP.

On frequent internet outage, the DGP said the social media was a big and uncontrolled tool, which creates law and order situation many a times. "The internet is being snapped to ensure peaceful environment. People suffer due to internet blockades and the police also face hardships in the absence of internet as their communications also comes to a halt. But, we will see that 2019 will see a lesser number of internet blockades,” the DGP said.