Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq among 500 most influential Muslims globally

Hurriyat Conference chairperson and Islamic scholar Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has figured in a list of 500 most influential Muslims globally along with former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The annual list was brought out by the Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) in collaboration with Georgetown University and was published on Monday, the Hurriyat said in a statement.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran and King Abdullah of Jordan were also among those featured on the list, it said.

“He (Farooq) has been advocating dialogue with both India and Pakistan so that the aspirations of the Kashmiri people may be realised,” the RISSC-Jordan has said about him, according to the statement.

Farooq has been under house arrest since August 4, 2005, when the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed by Parliament.