SRINAGAR, India — Thousands of Shiite Muslims had been allowed to carry a non secular procession marking the Muslim month of Muharram in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s principal metropolis on Thursday for the primary time since an anti-India rebel broke out within the disputed area greater than three many years in the past.

The contributors, largely sporting black garments, beat their chests and recited elegies within the business coronary heart of Srinagar. Some carried copies of the Quran to protest current public desecrations of the Islamic holy e-book in Sweden and Denmark.

Muharram is among the many holiest months for Shiite Muslims and marks the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, and his 72 companions within the battle of Karbala within the seventh century in present-day Iraq. The mourning over their deaths reaches to its peak on Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram. Thursday’s procession marked the eighth day on the calendar.

The principal Muharram gatherings on the eighth and tenth days that used to cross by town heart had been banned a yr after an armed insurgency broke out in 1989 demanding the area’s independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan, which additionally controls a part of Kashmir. However, Muharram processions continued to be allowed elsewhere within the Indian-controlled portion.

Tens of 1000’s of civilians, rebels and authorities forces have been killed within the insurgency.

Scores of mourners tried to defy the ban in earlier years, typically resulting in scuffles with police and the firing of tear gasoline.

Authorities stated the lifting of the ban comes as the general safety state of affairs has improved within the area lately.

Mohammad Aijaz, Srinagar’s civil administrator, stated the procession was “a dividend of peace.”

The lifting of the ban came after a series of talks between Shiite leaders and government officials. Authorities imposed a series of conditions, including that participants should not use “anti-national slogans or propaganda” or “disrespect any national symbol.”

“It was after a long wait of almost 34 years that this procession has once again been allowed to go through its historical route,” stated Shabib Ul Hassan, a younger participant.

It was unclear whether or not the authorities would elevate the ban on the tenth day procession as effectively.

Kashmiri Muslims have lengthy complained that the Indian authorities restricts their non secular freedom with the rationale of sustaining legislation and order, whereas selling an enormous annual Hindu pilgrimage to a holy cave, the Himalayan Amarnath Shrine in Kashmir.

The two-month Hindu pilgrimage, presently underway, attracts lots of of 1000’s of Hindu pilgrims from throughout India. The routes resulting in the cave shrine are guarded by tens of 1000’s of troopers.

Restrictions on Muslims have elevated sharply because the Indian authorities led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist social gathering scrapped the area’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

Since then, critics say the Indian authorities has tried to create what it calls “naya Kashmir,” or “new Kashmir,” by curbing dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.

Authorities have additionally confined the area’s chief cleric and prime separatist chief, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, to his dwelling and restricted massive congregational prayers on the area’s principal mosque.