Jammu and Kashmir on Friday welcomed freedom movement leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, whose four-year house arrest ended following a court order, allowing him to attend Friday prayers in public.
Emotional scenes were witnessed at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on Friday, where Farooq made his first public appearance and gave a short speech. After the speech, Farooq broke down into tears.
Later, as he exited the mosque, he was thronged by hundreds of people.
Farooq, the chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, was arrested in 2019 by Indian forces as New Delhi unilaterally revoked the special status for Kashmir, effectively annexing the region.
In his speech, Farooq called himself a "realist resolution-seeker" and rejected the moniker of a separatist or peace-disrupter as labelled by New Delhi.
He termed the period he spent under house arrest as "most painful" as it separated him from his people, especially after his father's death.
He reiterated his dream of a united Kashmir.
While disproving the revocation of the special autonomous status for Kashmir, Farooq stated that disputes and disagreements should be resolved through talks.
Other Kashmiri leaders widely welcomed his release.