The separatist leaders are fighting the battle of survival at the cost of common Kashmiris. It is time to expose them
Deepak Zazia from Srinagar
One after another incident is exposing the real face of separatist groups of Kashmir Valley, who claimed themselves to be the well-wishers of the Kashmiri people but in reality their one and only target is to sabotage democratic institutions in Jammu and Kashmir by propagating blood and destruction in the State.
The pro-Pakistani separatist groups, which are instigating violence in the Kashmir Valley since July 8 after killing of Hizbul Mujahideen’s self-pro-claimed commander, Burhan Wani, on July 20, have given an ultimatum to elected MLAs of all political parties, especially the ruling PDP to abandon their respective political parties and join separatist groups. Main target of separatists was PDP as these groups asked ruling PDP MLAs to “abandon” Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and come back to be with your people.
Mehbooba Mufti has failed as did Omar Abdullah in 2010 and since she can”t stop loss of human life her MLAs should abandon her and come back to their people.
“The red line of such brutal killings transcends political and ideological differences. Introspect and come back to be with your people. Forget about power and perks and take side of people,” Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik said in a joint threatening letter to the MLAs of different political parties in general and PDP in particular.
The separatist leaders asked the MLAs to stop being the “loyalist representatives of subjugators and murderers of people”. They said the MLAs from other mainstream parties should also do the same. “The same applies to other pro-India loyalists the National Conference and others. For once support truth! Stop the killings! Kashmiri lives matter!” they added in their joint threatening statement.
Actually Hurriyat Conference and other separatist groups are finding it difficult to digest strengthening of democratic institutions in the State of J&K. With the strengthening of democracy, such elements have been sidelined so they are desperately trying to make themselves relevant in the present situation of the Valley.
Earlier they tried to rake up issues like Sainik Colony and satellite township for displaced Kashmiri Hindus but they could not create disturbance in the Valley by launching a malicious campaign on these issues but killing of Buhran Wani has provided an opportunity for them to fish in the troubled water.
And, most important to all, present NDA government at the Centre, has realised that Hurriyat and other separatist leaders lack representative character so they are not given as important as given by the previous UPA regime. Desperate to make themselves relevance in the politics of Kashmir Valley, such leaders are trying to instigate violence so as to blackmail the incumbent regimes at State and Centre.
Where are Hurriyat leaders own sons and daughters ?
Ironically, such separatist leaders are instigating youth of Kashmir Valley to indulge into violence but their own sons and daughters are enjoying luxurious lives in different areas of the country and abroad.
Junaid Qureshi, who is son of J&K Democratic Liberation Party chairman and separatist leader Hashim Qureshi, was absolutely right when he posed a big questions before all Hurriyat leaders, “If jihad (Islamic war) is so pious, why don’t Kashmiri separatists or their children pick up guns? Why are their children tucked away in safe places?”
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, 86, hardline separatist leader of the conglomerate of the separatist parties in Jammu and Kashmir—All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)—has not been able to convince his children of his ideology. “His elder son Nayeen Geelani and his wife Bajiya are practising medicine in Rawalpindi (Pakistan) and his younger son lives in South Delhi. One of his daughters Farhat Geelani is a teacher in Jeddah and her husband is working as an engineer there,” sources said. None of his sons have intentions of following in their father’s footsteps.
All of Geelani’s grandchildren are studying in leading Christian missionary schools. His cousin Ghulam Nabi is presently in London. SAS Geelani is not the only leader, who has chosen to keep his children from harm’s way. Sarwar Yakub, son of the spokespersons of the Geelani-led faction of APHC Ayaz Akbar, is presently studying management in Pune. A son of Hurriyat leader Abdul Aziz Dar alias General Moosa’s has studied Computer Applications and another is in the Animal Husbandry Department.
General Moosa had earned the moniker for being the active member of the proscribed terrorist group of Hizbul in 1990s. He played a crucial role in triggering and sustaining stone-pelting protests in Kashmir in 2010. Asiya Andrabi heads the Dukhtaran-e-Millat. Her elder son is pursuing Bachelor’s of Info Tech at Islamic University of Malyasia.
She is known to glorify militancy and calls on the youth of Kashmir to take up arms and on the other hand her son is tucked away in Malaysia pursuing his education far away from Kashmir which is burning. While Kashmir burnt Andrabi”s son chilled: Bin Qasim is the elder son of Andrabi. He is pursuing Bachelors of Information Technology at the Islamic University of Malaysia. Last year when Pulwama in Kashmir was burning and his mother going about praising the terrorists, Qasim had on the same day posted several posts on his Facebook account suggesting that he was chilling with friends. The protests last year in Pulwama was all thanks to Andrabi who decided to glorify a Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant who had been gunned down. She called on everyone to fight the Indian forces to avenge the killings while on the other hand ensured that her son was tucked away in Malaysia to get good education. He is said to be living with Andrabi”s sister. Andrabi has another son who is studying in Srinagar. There is nothing to suggest that she has urged this son or the one in Malaysia to fight with arms in Kashmir. She has several relatives who are settled in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and England, but none have been told to come and take up arms in Kashmir. Her nephews, Zulqarnain is a captain in the Pakistan Army and a second nephew Irtiyaz-un-Nabi is an aeronautical engineer and lecturer in the International Islamic University, Islamabad.
All the four sons of Sayeed Salahudin, who is so-called supreme commander of the United Jihad Council, are serving in different government departments of J&K. n
(The writer is a J & K based
correspondent)
