With the lifting of restrictions on their movement the separatist leaders have started to interact with the masses and some are speaking their minds. Ilham Hassan reports.
As some normalcy started returning to Kashmir Valley, the separatist camp is witnessing two major changes. The top-ranking separatist leaders are gradually getting space to interact with the people and express their mindset. Earlier, they were jailed, house-arrested or restricted from moving around by the authorities. Secondly, the separatist leaders have initiated brainstorming to delve into issues, which were tabooed previously.
On December 31, former chairman of the now-fragmented All Parties Hurriyat Conference Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat stirred hornet’s nest by saying that several separatist leaders and intellectuals were not killed by army or police but were shot dead by “our own people”. He specifically referred to killings of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, Abdul Ghani Lone and Kashmir University professor Abdul Ahad Wani.
“Lone sahib, Mirwaiz Farooq and Prof. Wani were not killed by the army or the police. They were targeted by our own people. The story is a long one, but we have to tell the truth,” Bhat said in his inimitable style leaving the audience dumbstruck. He, however, chose not to stipulate the details and pinpoint the assailants. “What is the need to identify them (killers)…. They are already identified,” he later said.
The remarks came at a seminar organised by the JKLF’s Yasin Malik faction on “Role of intellectuals in the Kashmir movement”. Bhat resurfaced on the political scene after a prolonged silence. He chose to remain aloof along with Bilal Ghani Lone during 2008 public uprising against the controversial land transfer order favouring Amarnath shrine board. Again, in 2010 uprising triggered by spree of civilian killings by the police and paramilitaries, Bhat observed silence. His critics including hardliner Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Aasiya Andrabi even termed him as an “Indian agent”. But, Bhat did not change his tack.
“If you want to free the people of Kashmir from sentimentalism bordering on insanity, you have to speak the truth. Former prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto once said that sometimes truth escapes the mouth. Here I am letting it out.” He lamented that the movement for Azaadi, started with the killing of “our own intellectuals”. “Wherever we found an intellectual, we ended up killing him. Let us ask ourselves: Was Prof Wani a martyr of brilliance or a martyr of rivalry?” he asked pointing towards a portrait of the slain law professor.
Bhat is himself a sufferer. His brother Muhammad Sultan Bhat was killed by unknown persons, who he says, were supposedly espousing the separatist cause. “I have said it then, and I am saying it now. There is no ambiguity in my mind,” he said.
Interestingly, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who spoke after Bhat in the seminar chose to parry the issue. He did not contradict Bhat’s statement either.
Bhat’s remarks evoked mixed reaction in Kashmir. The mainstream political leaders hailed his plainspeak while the authorities including Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda mocked at the secessionist movement saying that both killers and the killed are buried in same “martyr’s graveyard”. Bhat’s opponents in the separatist camp, did not comment on his statement.
Observers say that Bhat has not said anything new. A senior Hurriyat leader was quoted as saying that Bhat has delivered the same speech in “Azad Kashmir” assembly, when he was a frequent visitor to Pakistan during Gen. Musharaf’s regime. “There is nothing wrong if such controversial themes are addressed. The killings of top-ranking leaders and intellectuals are a stark reality. How long can we refrain from discussing these events in public forums,” a separatist leader told Kashmir Life.
He, however, cautioned that the discussion on these topics must be for “introspection and not to derail and confuse the independence movement”. He said that while Bhat squarely blamed “own people” for Mirwaiz Farooq’s killing, he deliberately chose to ignore former chief minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s statement that the then governor Jagmohan ignored Molvi Farooq’s repeated requests to enhance his security or put him under “preventive detention”. “Then, it is also a stark fact that 60 civilians were killed at the funeral procession of the slain Mirwaiz and his body was also showered with bullets. Was that also an insider’s job,” he asked.
The killings, which Bhat referred to, are shrouded in mystery. Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq was murdered at his Nageen mansion on May 21, 1990 morning when unidentified gunmen barged in and pumped bullets in his body from a close range. An eyewitness at the site, Mirwaiz’s domestic help, only said that the killers were speaking Urdu language.
The death of Mirwaiz triggered massive resentment in old city, his family pocket borough, and thousands of people gathered to attend the funeral procession. Later, more than 60 people were killed when CRPF personnel fired upon the procession near Islamia College in Srinagar. The firing on the mourners reinforced the ordinary Kashmiri’s suspicions that government was behind Mirwaiz’s killing.
A TADA court, however, jailed former militant Muhammad Ayub Dar last year for the killing. The CBI charge sheet said Dar, along with two other terrorists, shot the Mirwaiz. Its charge sheet named five Hizbul Mujahideen commanders also.
Prof. Wani was killed on December 31, 1993, by unknown gunmen. He was a professor of law in Kashmir University and an advocate of JKLF’s views. The killing is considered to be the result of group rivalry.
People’s Conference founder Abdul Ghani Lone was killed by a pistol-borne man on May 21, 2002 at Eidgah shortly after the conclusion of a commemoration meeting at Mirwaiz Farooq’s anniversary. His killing was considered a sabotage to political process, which Lone had initiated. A conference in Dubai, which Lone attended, had discussed engagement of separatist leaders in political process. It was a time when Dr. Farooq Abdullah led NC government was completing its six years and assembly elections were round the corner.
Lone’s death has had several controversies. His younger son Sajjad Lone, who fought 2009 parliamentary election from north Kashmir, initially blamed Syed Ali Geelani for Lone’s killing. He later retracted his statement.
In 2004, when al-Umar commander Rafiq Lidri was shot dead by police, Lone picked up a quarrel with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for leading his funeral prayers. Sajjad said that Lidri was responsible for killing his father. The issue snowballed into a controversy and Sajjad parted ways with Mirwaiz led faction of Hurriyat. Even his own party split between him and his elder brother Bilal Lone. Interestingly, Bilal continued to remain Mirwaiz’s confidant.
The authorities have not filed charge sheet in the case of Wani’s or Lone’s killings.
