Kashmiris reject ban on political speeches in mosques

Iftikhar Andrabi, chief executive officer of the government-regulated Wakqf board, said the decision to enforce the ban aimed to prevent separatists and pro-India politicians from using religious sites to spread political beliefs.

"No one will be allowed to make such speeches," he said in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, where a deadly insurgency has raged against New Delhi's rule since 1989.

In recent months, separatist leaders have been making political speeches at mosques and then staging big rallies outside the Islamic houses of worship that have drawn huge crowds.

The rallies are intended as a show of strength to underline separatist calls for inclusion in an ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan aimed at settling their row over Kashmir that has sparked two of their three wars.