Hurriyat expects ‘unimaginable turmoil’ after revocation of AFSPA

Both factions say Gen Hasnain is right, Kashmir will separate from India

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Nov 12: Both factions of Kashmir’s premier separatist conglomerate, led by hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and cleric-politician Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are expecting “unimaginable turmoil” in the Valley following revocation of Jammu & Kashmir Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). In two separately issued statements today, they endorsed 15^th Corps Commander Gen S A Hasnain’s purported apprehension that withdrawal of the special powers from armed forces would inevitably lead to Kashmir’s separation from India---albeit with their archaic claim that no Kashmiri would accept Indian sovereignty in absence of military and its extraordinary authority.

According to the statement from Geelani’s faction of Hurriyat Conference, Gen Hasnain has “unwittingly” admitted that the “Indian occupation” in Kashmir is subservient to the country’s military might and impunity. “The Army’s observation has made it abundantly clear that withdrawal of AFSPA would be closely followed by a massive revolt against the (Indian) occupation that would make impossible even a day of the Indian control in Kashmir”, spokesman Ayaz Akbar said.

Hurriyat’s statements have obviously come in quick reaction to Gen Hasnain’s apprehensions carried in a section of the national media on Friday. As reported by Praveen Swami of The Hindu, Gen Hasnain had expressed his opposition to the suggestion of withdrawal of AFSPA from six of the 20 districts in Jammu & Kashmir in a presentation to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and other participants of the Unified Headquarters meeting in Jammu early this week. Without any reaction from Army, Hasnain is quoted to have cautioned that revocation of AFSPA, followed by withdrawal of the American troops from Afghanistan next year and simultaneously increasing OIC influence in the UN, would lead to Kashmir’s separation from India by 2016.

Geelani’s spokesman emphasized that “ending India’s forced military occupation” in Kashmir was the fundamental demand of the Kashmiris which, according to him, could be realized after withdrawal of special powers from the Indian armed forces. He said that by virtue of these powers, troops had been “suppressing and decimating the Kashmiris” and thus sustaining the “rule of occupation”.

“As soon as Disturbed Areas Act, AFSPA and other draconian laws go, India will not find a single individual accepting its sovereignty in Jammu & Kashmir. It will, in fact, lead to unimaginable mass revolt against the Indian military occupation in Kashmir”, Ayaz Akbar said in the Hurriyat (Geelani) statement.

In an identical statement, a Hurriyat (Mirwaiz) spokesman observed that Gen Hasnain’s assertion was an authentic admission of the fact that the Indian military rule would not sustain even for a day in Kashmir in absence of its troops and the special powers enjoyed by them. “In his observation, General (Hasnain) has admitted that Indian rule in Jammu & Kashmir for nearly 70 years is the result of military occupation and that nobody in Kashmir wants to live with India”, the Hurriyat (Mirwaiz) statement added.

Both the statements insisted that the ruling National Conference’s campaign for revocation of AFSPA was part of the mainstream political gimmickry and posturing aimed at hoodwinking the party’s votebank in the Valley. They alleged that NC’s, as well as other mainstream parties’ objective was nothing but grabbing the power by hook or by crook. They said that NC could go to any extent in its obsession of sticking to power.

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