Umar Farooq is the Mirwaiz, or hereditary chief priest, of Kashmir based at the historic Jama Masjid in Srinagar. He is also one the Kashmir Valley's most prominent separatist leaders as chair of the Hurriyat Conference, and since its split, the head of the perhaps more moderate Hurriyat grouping. He was seventeen years old when his father was assassinated in May 1990 - although it is not entirely clear who was responsible for the killing it is believed to be Kashmiri militants. In this interview, Umar Farooq insisted that the basic issue in Kashmir is political rather than about faith: 'the problem is political - it does have a religious dimension but the problem is political'.