Omar’s NC asserts against stone pelting, shutdown culture

2 rallies held at Lalchowk, Shopian; Hurriyat (G) threatens “traitors”

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Nov 7: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s politically paralysed National Conference (NC) finally came out of its slumber over the death of two civilians in an incident of stone pelting in Shopian today when two of the party’s Cabinet Ministers came down heavily on the separatist leadership and held it directly responsible for current spell of bloodshed and mayhem in the Valley. Meanwhile, yet another rally assailed sponsors of unending shutdowns in the heart of Srinagar even as it was immediately subjected to an attack by dozens of stone pelters on the third consecutive day of Hurriyat (Geelani)-sponsored “civil curfew” to commemorate the Muslims killed in communal riots in Jammu in 1947.

An official press release claimed it to be a gathering of “at least 9,000” mourners but reliable reports from Shopian said that around 2,000 people formed the audience of Minister of Rural Development, Ali Mohammad Sagar, and Minister of Social Welfare, Sakeena Itoo, when the senior NC leaders arrived in to express their party’s and the Government’s solidarity with the bereaved families at Chitragam Kalan. As already reported, two persons of this village had got killed and three others injured when a group of stone pelters attacked their three-wheeler at Nagbal, on Zainapora-Shopian Road yesterday.

Accorded to the statement of the three injured, recorded by Police today, the ill-fated fleeing auto had skidded of the road and rolled down into a gorge when over a dozen of youth had subjected it to heavy stone pelting on account of defying the separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s call of “civil curfew” for three days. SP Shopian, Shahid Meraj Rather, told Early Times that on the basis of the statements of the injured eyewitnesses, Police were assiduously in the process of identifying and arresting the stone pelters whose action had directly caused the tragedy, including death of two innocent commuters.

Informed sources said that both, Sagar and Sakeena, made hard-hitting attacks on the separatist Hurriyat leaders and their “mainstream supporters” (read PDP) and held them jointly responsible for destruction of Kashmir’s bustling tourist season, closure of schools and colleges besides causing loss of hundreds of Crores of Rupees to the Valley’s economy. Addressing a receptive gathering, they assailed sponsors of the Valley’s shutdowns and stone pelting and charged them with amassing substantial fortunes over hundreds of innocent civilian deaths. They pointed out that most of the Hurriyat leaders and their supporters in different institutions had sent their own children for education, employment and business to different Indian cities and abroad but led an entire generation to death, destruction and penury without achieving anything in the last 21 years of turbulence.

The Ministers handed over cheques worth Rs 5 Lakh each to both the bereaved families as ex-gratia relief from their government. Sources said that a large number of the residents expressed their astonishment over the fact that “a handful of stone pelters” had damaged hundreds of vehicles, extorted money from truck drivers and left hundreds of people injured but Police and security forces had done little to restore confidence among the “suppressed and silenced majority”. The Ministers assured them that their government would leave no stone unturned in taking action against the hooligans and restoring the peoples’ faith in the system. Chitragam village falls in the Assembly constituency of the PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, who sent her condolences to the bereaved families from London today, albeit without condemning the stone pelters.

NC’s condolence rally in Shopian was significant in the sense that the ruling party remained either in total oblivion or spoke the separatists’ language in the last five months of street turbulence that left over a hundred people dead and thousands more wounded in Kashmir valley. For over three months of this turbulent period, neither the mainstream politicians nor the government functionaries dared to travel on the Valley’s streets, let alone organizing a public rally. Situation finally began to change fast after Police and security forces adopted better means of riot management, got most of the prominent activists---particularly Massarat Alam, Asiya Andrabi and some advocates----arrested in the last few months.

Third and the last day of Geelani’s “civil curfew” passed peacefully with no demonstration or incident of stone pelting taking place anywhere in the Valley. Reports said that shops and heavy modes of passenger transport remained closed but medium commercial vehicles and private traffic operated in almost all the districts. Shops were seen open in several areas of Srinagar and most of the townships though impact of the “civil curfew” was substantial in certain areas. Geelani this evening issued yet another shutdown calendar, for the first time relaxing shutdown for 9 days in the next 12 days. It is partly attributed to growing defiance to the shutdown culture in the Valley and partly to the forthcoming festival of Idd-ul-Azha that falls on November 17^th.

Here in the capital city, yet another “peace rally” appeared today with hundreds of men, women and children, mostly traveling in buses, shouting slogans in favour of peace and normalcy. Leaders of the rally, who were all unknown and nondescript faces, came down heavily on the separatist leaders and their stone pelting followers for “making our life a hell with unending hartals”. They pointed out that the sons and daughters of all hues of politicians, as well as bureaucrats and government officials, were enjoying their education, jobs and business in foreign countries but the poor, innocent people were being subjugated and subjected to starvation and penury.

Sources said that a group of stone pelters dramatically appeared in the civil lines and clashed with the “anti-hartal rally” at Lalchowk. Police intervened and rescued the participants of the rally. A thinner rally, comprising school children and their parents, had appeared with similar slogans and placards on Residency Road about a month back.

Hurriyat (G) leader, Nisar Hussain Rather, in a statement described participants of the rally as “NC’s Gujjars and Bakerwals”, called them traitors and threatened them of dire consequences if they persisted with “anti-movement activities”. According to him today’s rally in Srinagar was one of the government’s numerous attempts to fail Kashmir’s separatist movement.

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