Hizb chief for a brake to infinite shutdowns

‘No dialogue with Delhi until (separatist) leadership unites on a joint platform’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jul 23: With the Valley’s separatist leaders being in detention and the mainstream politicians proving themselves spineless before an anarchical upheaval, Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salah-ud-din has called for an end to infinite shutdowns in the economically shattered Kashmir. Operating from Pakistan as uncrowned king of the Kashmir militancy and head of the guerrilla alliance, United Jihad Council, since 1993, politician-turned-militant Salah-ud-din has, however, called upon the separatist leaders not to engage themselves in any political process with Government of India until creation of a joint platform.

Breaking the ice after three weeks of shutdown and curfew in Valley in a telephonic interview with the local news agency KNS, Syed Salah-ud-din asserted that the economically shattered Kashmiris could no more afford to continue endless strikes as they had already made invaluable sacrifices for the separatist movement. He urged the separatist leaders to bring relief to the Kashmiris by calling off endless shutdowns. “No movement can run without strategy and planning”, Hizb chief is quoted to have said.

Sixty-four-year old Hizb chief, who had contested and lost several Assembly elections before outbreak of militancy in 1989-90, has interestingly said that he had never dissociated himself with politics. “I have a masters in international politics and have been continuously involved with politics”, Salah-ud-din has said but justified the addition of gun into politics. According to him, politics sans gun had never forced formidable India to come down to earth in Jammu & Kashmir.

Significantly again, Salah-ud-din has advised the Valley’s separatist leaders against participating in any dialogue or political process with New Delhi until creation of a joint platform. He has asked them to unite and asserted that unification of the much disintegrated separatist leadership was the only answer to current spell of directionless agitation. Barring a couple of organizations, all of the Valley’s separatist political outfits and alliances have split into groups and factions, particularly after Hurriyat’s split into moderates and hardliners in 2003. According to him, certain people in Kashmir had the capability of uniting the separatists and they were all expected to play their role at this “extremely crucial stage of our freedom struggle”.

Operating from Pakistan since 1993, Salah-ud-din has also urged Islamabad not to engage in any dialogue with New Delhi at this stage and, instead, do its best to neutralize “the Indian propaganda” in the world forums.

While asserting that Kashmir was no more in need of endless strikes, Salah-ud-din has advised the separatist leaders to restrict their programme and demonstrations to limited district areas, for example Baramulla to Kupwara or Kulgam to Anantnag, so as to ensure that life was not crippled in rest of the Valley. “This is not a movement of three or four days. It’s a long drawn continuous process till a logical conclusion”, he is quoted to have argued.

“Supreme Commander” of formidable Hizbul Mujahideen since 1991 and Chairman of UJC for over ten years now, Salah-ud-din has also called upon militants to restrict their guerrilla activities to the borders and keep all areas of “mass movement” free of attacks and encounters. According to him, there was no need of guns and grenades in the hinterland as “our movement has smoothly passed on to the next generation”. He claimed that “85 percent” of the Valley’s youth and teenagers were now involved with the separatist movement and their current demonstrations and clashes with Police and armed forces were a proof to the world at large. In his interview, Hizb chief has justified stone pelting with his averment that it was the “only tool of resistance” with the unarmed Kashmiris.

“I’m sure this peoples’ revolution would open the eyes of Indian policy planners and force them to reframe their strategies”, he has said and ridiculed official claims of Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Toiba being behind the uprising. He also dismissed reports of infiltration of militants into J&K from Pakistan and asked what hundreds of the Indian troopers had been doing at their borders.

Like today, Salah-ud-din was the first person who had sought end to infinite strikes in Kashmir during Amarnath land allotment stir in 2008 with his argument that “85 percent” of the Kashmiris were those whose evening meals depend on their day’s labour.

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