The Centre has very rightly isolated the separatists and, now, their tall claims about being the leaders of Kashmir stand punctured. Holding talks with them would just mean wasting time
Sheikh Khalid Jehangir
The separatists in Kashmir have been left high and dry. They stand exposed in the Valley as the investigations carried out by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) into terror funding have proved it beyond doubt that the handful of separatists get money from Pakistan and they dance to the tunes of their masters sitting across the Line of Control.
A few people in Kashmir are insisting that talks should be held with the separatists and they needed to be given a chance. The people who insist that talks need to be held with separatists should realise that the separatists have become irrelevant and have lost ground. They (separatists) have lost credibility. The shutdowns and protests called by them are nothing but an opportunity to fill their coffers. For them, it is a simple business. For them, the slogan of Azadi is nothing but a mantra to mint money. They exploit people in the name of religion and brainwash the young minds to rebel against the system. In the 1990s, they gave them guns and in 2008 they gave them stones. Since 1990 they (separatists) have been leading the funeral prayers of Kashmiri youth and have been responsible for getting them killed just for the sake of money.
Hurriyat hawk
Recently, a Hurriyat hawk, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, issued a statement that “ he is not averse to the talks and he is ready to hold parleys with the Government of India. He issued the statement on September 23, 2017, just one day before his son, Nayeem Geelani, was summoned by the NIA at its New Delhi office for questioning for the third time in connection with the terror funding case.
It seems the Hurriyat hawk has realized that the dirty game he had started is about to burn his home also and his son could also end up in jail for supporting his father.
Otherwise, Geelani, who is known hardliner and used to swear by Pakistan, talking about dialogue looks strange. The separatists, including Geelani, should bear it in mind that the Centre is in no mood to talk to them as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav have made it clear that J&K is an integral part of India and people who talk about separatism and sedition are traitors. So how can talks with traitors happen, who are instrumental in spreading hatred against India? If they want to talk, they should first prove their representative character contest, the elections, and moreover, announce their belief and faith in the Indian Constitution.
Pakistani Agents
No one in New Delhi is ready to talk to the Pakistani agents. If they want to hold parleys, they should first engage with the state government and announce their participation in the Assembly polls. If they win any seats and are able to prove that they enjoy the support of people then the only Central government should talk to them. The BJP central leaders have made it clear on many occasions that the Centre would talk to the elected representatives of the people and not the Pakistani agents. Many people in Kashmir are of the opinion that if separatists contest the elections they would not win any seats.
They are so-called leaders and they have established their writ by “gundagardi” and by generating fear among the people. Their paid agents have deserted them as the NIA crackdown has choked the hawala channels and no money seems to be flowing from anywhere now. They are unable to pay their henchmen who would have orchestrated street protests and stone-pelting. Today, they are literally begging for talks with New Delhi. They seem to have forgotten an important fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a man with strong will and has emerged as the strongest Prime Minister since 1947. It is under his leadership that tough decisions were taken. He is the one who passed the directions that the Centre should stop pampering the separatists and they should be shown their place. Today, everyone knows that these people have made mansions on the bodies of the Kashmiris and have been selling their blood for the vested interests of the separatists. The Kashmiris have woken up and have realised that these dream merchants are nothing more than the stooges of Pakistan.
( The writer is a J&K-based freelance journalist)
