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Peace Pipes
Despite
efforts by moderate separatist leaders to advocate a diologue to resolve
the Kashmiri issue, Hurriyat hardliners are adamant on continuing with
the jehad. India Today's Izhar Wani reports on the divide and its repercussions
in the Valley.
When
Omar Farooq, Kashmir's young cleric and separatist leader, stood-up to
address a group of Muslims at Srinagar's main mosque last Friday, there
was anger writ large on his face. "No one will be sidelined if I
or my party make a move towards resolving the issue of Kashmir,"
he said. The remarks were directed at Syed Ali Geelani, who had lambasted
Farooq and hardliner Abdul Gani Lone for keeping the Hurriyat Conference
in the dark over last month's meeting in Dubai. "There is no need
to feel breathless," lashed-out Farooq, claiming he had formed the
Hurriyat Conference in 1993 "only to take all the parties along."
Farooq did not stop here. He went on to boast that there were some 30
"serious proposals" to resolve the issue of Kashmir peacefully.
"There is no military solution to the issue," he said as supporters
shouted slogans like "Jo Omar say takrayeh gah, pash pash hoja ya
ga (Those who will confront Omar will be razed
to ground).”
Geelani and other hardliners feel that the moderate lot may go for a compromise
following the changed scenario after September 11, and have vowed to thwart
such designs. While taking a dig at Omar and Lone, who have called for
changes in the separatist movement following the attacks in US, Geelani
says, "By making such statements, they want to say that we should
compromise and bow down before the oppressor." He also maintains
that "no one can stop jehad as it is an order from Allah." The
Jamaat-e-Islami, the party he represents in Hurriyat, was however quick
to spurn the comments made by Geelani as being personal, and not the official
stand of the pro-Pakistan party.
Meanwhile, Kashmir's dominant group, the Hizbul Mujahideen, in a clear
rebuff to Omar and the Jamaat has thrown its weight behind Geelani and
declared the hardline separatist as the "leader of the freedom struggle."
Syed Salahudin, its supreme commander has also vowed to take the "struggle
to its logical end" through military means, and has vehemently denounced
the Dubai meeting. He even urged Islamabad not to take cognisance of the
reported suggestions made by leaders in Dubai.
Hardliners, both among the Hurriyat and the militant groups, see a conspiracy
in the Dubai meeting between Farooq, Lone and Abdul Qayoom Khan, who was
nominated as head of the Kashmir Committee by Pakistan President Pervez
Musharraf in January. The meeting could not have taken place without the
consent of Musharraf and the Government of India, which facilitated the
visit of two Hurriyat leaders to the Emirates. Farooq's plea that the
meeting was "coincidental" has no buyers in Kashmir.
Sources say that hardline separatist leaders from both the sides of Line
of Control were not invited to the meeting, initiated by Sardar Khan at
the behest of Musharraf. According to one reliable source, the idea was
to ostensibly convey Musharraf's point of view, and get it endorsed by
Kashmiri leaders. He said the
leaders, including some expatriate Kashmiris, backed Khan's view that
violence should end in the restive state and politicians be allowed to
lead the secessionist campaign.
This was reflected in post-meeting statements of Lone, Farooq and Khan,
who denounced violence and called for a dialogue over Kashmir. Lone once
again called for "immediate withdrawal" of foreign militants
from the state. A similar statement by Omar was denied by the young priest
in an afterthought.
To ward off growing international criticism for continued support to militants
in Kashmir, Musharraf's Government is desparate to give a political colour
to militancy in Kashmir and present it as an "indigenious movement"
and not a Pakistan-sponsored one. It will help Musharraf in easing some
pressure, and at the same time if Pakistan at some point decides against
supporting militants in
Kashmir, he can argue with hardline groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami that
this was the demand of Kashmiri leaders.
Encouraged by the Dubai meetings, which reportedly were being monitored
by moderate officers of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence, Farooq
used his home turf, Srinagar's main mosque, to announce that the discussions
were successful. He accused Geelani of creating suspicion and got a positive
response
in New Delhi through intermediaries that a dialogue between the Hurriyat
and Delhi was possible. To balance things, he said: "If Pakistan
says it is ready for talks India should not shy away and similarly if
India tomorrow says it is ready for talks with the Kashmiris, we should
not shy away." He even declared that the Hurriyat would talk when
that oppurtunity came.
Kashmiri experts have attached high hopes to the upcoming visit of Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Jammu and Kashmir and are optimistic
that such an offer may come during the tour. The Hurriyat in the past
has been making Pakistan's involvement mandatory in any talks, but Farooq's
statement seems to be a shift from that. A.S. Dulat, the former RAW chief
and officer on special duty in the PMO, was recently in Srinagar to gauge
the mood of the separatists. He met with some of the second rung leaders
of the Hurriyat, and former militant leaders, besides spending much of
his time on the greens.
Dulat's entry in Srinagar added to the confusion following reports that
he met with Farooq and another senior leader Abbas Ansari in Srinagar.
However, official sources maintain they had a
chance meeting aboard a Srinagar-bound Jet Airways plane, and nothing
beyond that. But that is not convincing the hardline separatists in Kashmir.
They are connecting the Dubai meet with Dulat's meetings in Srinagar.
Despite Dulat's failure in eliciting assurances from separatists to contest
the upcoming polls, there are differences within the Hurriyat, and its
chairman Abdul Gani Bhat candidly admits that. "Yes, there are differences
and we will try to resolve those," he said. The chairman has warned
the Hurriyat of taking part in the state polls slated for later this year.
"If any Hurriyat leader wants to contest polls, he should first declare
he is an Indian," he said, "and has nothing to do with the freedom
movement." Bhat said no leader would be allowed to participate in
the polls "in the name of freedom." There is tremendous pressure
on the Hurriyat to contest the state polls by western countries, including
the US and UK.
Bhat may be trying hard to keep his folks together, but fresh differences
within the separatist coalition has turned the people, the conglomerate
claims to represent, disillusioned. "The Hurriyat remains more interested
in their individual gains. Their ambit of concern would at the most stretch
out to the limits of their own party," says Mehmood-ur-Rashid, a
columnist. So much for the efforts of the Hurriyat leaders.
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