Mirwaiz re-elected Hurriyat Chairman for another 2-year term

Srinagar, Nov 7 (UNI) Awami Action Committee (AAC) chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was today re-elected as the chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference for another term of two years.

The Mirwaiz was unanimously re-elected as the Hurriyat Chairman after his term expired today.

The decision was taken at an extra-ordinary meeting of the Hurriyat Conference at its Raj Bagh headquarters here this morning.

The name of Mirwaiz Farooq was proposed by former Hurriyat Chairman Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat and seconded by all the other Executive Committee members.

After the Hurriyat Executive Committee cleared the name, the General Council confirmed the decision.

The Mirwaiz, the head priest of Kashmir, was the founder Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference when formed on December 27, 1993 and held the position for two consecutive terms of two years each till 1996 and then assumed the post again in 2000 and 2004.

Born on March 23, 1973 at their ancestral house in Rajouri Kadal in the downtown city, Mirwaiz Farooq is the youngest prominent Kashmiri separatist leader.

He did his matriculation from the prestigious Burn Hall School in 1990 and took over the reigns of the AAC after his father Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq was assassinated on May 21, 1990. His late father had founded the AAC.

The Mirwaiz went on to complete his MA in Islamic Studies from the Kashmir University in 2000 as a private candidate and later obtained an M.Phil degree as well. Mirwaiz Farooq did not join Columbia University even after getting an admission there and preferred to stay in Kashmir.

He is also the chief priest of the historic Jama Masjid, the main mosque of Kashmir.

UNI AG SP MIR RN1828