Security lapse
Cop hurls shoe on CM at stadium, 15 suspended
Shoe-thrower critical at SKIMS after severe beating by SSG; Govt suspects politician’s hand
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 15: In a major security lapse, a suspended head constable of Jammu & Kashmir Police today attacked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with his shoes on occasion of the ceremonial Independence Day parade at Bakhshi Memorial Sports Stadium. The shoe-thrower, who had managed to take seat among senior IAS and IPS officers in the VIP gallery, was captured and mercilessly beaten which led to his admission at SKIMS. Fifteen security officials of lower ranks have been placed under suspension even as the investigation into the security lapse is underway and Police claimed that the head constable of “criminal and dubious background” had revealed how a mainstream politician had facilitated his entry into the VIP gallery.
Eyewitnesses told Early Times that an I-Day ceremony guest, seated in 4th row of the VIP gallery in the Central Pavilion of Bakhshi Stadium, took out his shoe and hurled it on Chief Minister when Mr Omar Abdullah just reached the podium and began unfurling the Tricolour at 10.15 a.m. today. It, however, missed the intended target as well as Director General of Police, Kuldeep Khoda, who was at the ceremonial ritual beside chief guest and Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah. Thereupon the man in militant mood loudly shouted the slogan: “Weeee waaant freedom”. He was found to have reached the VIP pavilion alongwith a black piece of cloth which he perhaps intended to hoist to mark his anger---frustration, according to officials---against the Indian control over Jammu & Kashmir.
Even as the SSG personnel guarding the Chief Minister removed the shoe, part of police uniform, quickly with their feet in an attempt to hide it and play down the spectacle, DIG JP Singh, who was seated in the 5th row, jumped on the man and captured him before he could throw his next shoe. He was handed over to SSG personnel who immediately whisked him away to an undisclosed destination.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah sought to play down the attack, first of its kind in Jammu & Kashmir. In his speech after concluding his salute and inspection of the ceremonial parade, he said that it was a benign form of protest and not harmful like stones. Nevertheless, his security guards mercilessly beat up the man to the extent that he began vomiting blood. Informed sources revealed to this newspaper that the shoe-thrower was rushed to Police Hospital where doctors examined him and referred him to SKIMS, Soura. He was identified as head constable Abdul Ahad Jan S/o Mohammad Dillawar Jan R/o Ajas Bandipore, presently posted in District Police Kulgam but under suspension since May this year.
Medical Superintendent at SKIMS, Dr Syed Amin Tabish, told Early Times late tonight that 50-year-old Abdul Ahad Jan was admitted to Accidents & Emergency Department of his hospital at 7.15 p.m. as a patient of accelerated hypertension. He said that there were no torture marks on his body and the patient was improving after necessary medical treatment. Yet another source at SKIMS, who examined Jan, said that his blood pressure was as high as 210/140 at the time of his observation on admission which ultimately came down to 170/130 at 10.00 p.m.
Sources said that Jan was under interrogation of a specially constituted team consisting of Dy SP, Sanjay Raina, of SOG Srinagar besides men from Security Wing and Intelligence Bureau. They said that the interrogators had failed to extort anything from Jan till late this evening as he was not in a position to make any statement and doctors had also advised against putting him under any further stress.
However, a statement issued from zonal headquarters of Kashmir Police said that Jan had revealed a mainstream politician’s involvement in facilitating his entry into the stadium and the VIP pavilion.
“During preliminary interrogation the suspended head constable Abdul Ahad Jan, who had hurled a shoe at the independence day function at Srinagar, revealed that he was approached by a political party leader. He also revealed that he used entry pass of the political party leader to gain entry into the venue”, read the Police statement issued late tonight.
“As has been reported earlier, Abdul Ahad Jan s/o Dillawar Jan r/o Ajas District Bandipora, a suspended Head Constable is reportedly mentally unsound and facing charges in a criminal case under FIR No:123 dated: May 21st 2010 registered against him in Police Station Parimpora. He was arrested by Parimpora Police in this case and was later bailed out by the Court. He was suspended for his criminal activities vide Kulgam Police order No: 360 dated: May 22, 2010.The suspended head Constable was earlier arrested in a robbery case registered in police station Shergarhi, Srinagar in 2008.He has been under continuous psychiatric treatment in psychiatric hospital as well as with private doctors”, it added.
Officials did not identify the politician, who, according to them, had been named by Jan. Sources, however, said that Police were concentrating on one of the PDP’s MLAs from North Kashmir. These sources said that as many as five criminal FIRs were found registered against Jan at Police Stations of Parimpora, Saddar, Shergarhi and Pantachowk in Srinagar besides one in Police Station Kulgam. Sources said that forgery of documents related to one of his relative’s ex-gratia case had led to registration of an FIR against Jan at Police Station Parimpora earlier this year.
He had been promoted to the rank of ASI but later reverted to the rank of head constable following his involvement in a criminal matter in Kulgam where he stood suspended and attached to District Police Lines.
Inquiries revealed that Jan was among a group of Police officials who had evacuated then DGP, J N Saxena, when a powerful IED blast had badly damaged Police Headquarters in Srinagar on January 25th in 1992. Later, then IGP late Mr Amar Kapoor had recommended four constables for out-of-turn promotion. Jan also staked his claim but was not included. He was later alleged to have fraudulently inserted his name into the list which was detected and he was placed under suspension. He also approached court of law and got some relief but the orders were not implemented for years.
Meanwhile, his son, Showkat Ahmed Jan, worked as an active militant with Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba. He was later arrested and released following which he has been operating as a shopkeeper in his village.
Highly placed officials admitted that today’s incident of shoe-throwing on CM was a major security lapse. They said that 15 officials of Security Wing of J&K Police had been immediately placed under suspension. They included two Sub Inspectors. It was being investigated as to how the suspended head constable managed to reach VIP pavilion and take a seat well among the senior IAS and IPS officers, including a number of Principal Secretaries, Commissioner-Secretaries, IGPs, DIGs and senior legislators and politicians.
Eyewitnesses said that Jan was escorted by officials on duty to a seat actually reserved for senior IAS officer, Tashi Dorjay. He first sat in the left of Director Hospitality & Protocol Mr Jamwal and later shifted to his right seat. Middle rung officials from General Administration Department, Divisional Commissioner’s office, besides Security Wing were on duty for proper seating of the VIP guests while a number of spotters in mufti were also on duty from CID.
Early Times learned that IGP Security Ram Lubhaya was presently in Leh, making security arrangements alongwith SPG for the visit of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and MoS Defence on August 16th and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 17th. There was also no DIG posted in security wing after Mr Shafqat Wattali was transferred as DIG South Kashmir last month. Hence the senior most official looking after security at the I-Day venue was SSP Security, Rafeeq-ul-Hassan.
Meanwhile, Dukhtaraan-e-Millat Chairperson, Asiya Andrabi has announced “gallantry award” for Jan and described him as a “great freedom fighter”. In her statement, she claimed that “many of such freedom fighters” had infiltrated into different ranks of the government. She ridiculed DGP Kuldeep Khoda’s description about Jan and asked the Police chief how a “mad man” had managed to reach the VIP pavilion.
Reports from Bandipore said that around 1500 people from several villages gathered at Jan’s residence immediately after learning about his attack on CM and hailed him as a hero. They enthusiastically shouted slogans: “Teri Jan, Meri Jan, Ahad Jan, Ahad Jan”.
END
Sunday, August 15, 2010
What went wrong with Omar’s Kashmir?
Part 3
Omar fumbled and faltered from day one in office
Hate-India sentiment became a craze with mainstream politicians
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 14: New Delhi’s policy of having no Kashmir policy proved to be disastrous in the current turbulence. Even as Congress became NC’s coalition partner both at the Central as well as the state level, Kashmir continued to be handled by intelligence and security agencies. Perhaps this would not have been the position with men like Rajesh Pilot in Sonia Gandhi’s Congress and UPA. Left to bureaucracy and the intelligence and security agencies, Kashmir was turned into a political laboratory. In the last several years, Farooq Abdullah’s politics of jingoism—that was perceived to be turning dangerous with NC’s insistence on autonomy---was replaced by Mufi Sayeed’s politics of appeasement.
Enjoying a riding on the tiger for several years, New Delhi found itself in a whirlpool in 2008 when it realized that the Valley’s radical sections were the real beneficiaries of Mufti’s healing touch policy. That they had regrouped and expanded their base substantially became clear when Geelani emerged as the hero of Amarnath land row turmoil and Mufti’s PDP became completely irrelevant. Assembly elections turned the tables soon and an anti-incumbency factor favoured Dr Abdullah’s party. All but one of Mufti’s Cabinet Ministers were defeated by the NC candidates.
Hate-India sentiment was publicly promoted by Mufti and his party to the extent that nobody questioned one of Mufti’s senior Cabinet Ministers as to how Lashkar-e-Toiba militants had stayed at his residence for several weeks before setting out for Ahmedabad in Gujarat to launch a Fidayeen attack on Akshardhaam temple. The Minister resigned when the story appeared in media but Mufti advised him not to quit on “such small matters”.
One of the PDP Ministers lately revealed in a television interview that New Delhi had sent a lot of money to J&K, which Mufti filled in envelops and sent it to the families of the militants dying in encounters with the Special Operations Group and the Indian
security forces. None of the civilian killings, suspected to be done by militants, was ever condemned by then Chief Minister or any of his Ministerial colleagues.
Dangers of leaving the hardline politics uncontested politically became evident in the worst form in the middle of current year when New Delhi failed to get a single politician, with the exception of J&K PCC President, Saif-ud-din Soz, to say a word in entire J&K state against the separatist hardliners grabbing entire space in the Valley. Everybody seemed to be talking of the need to reach out to 500-odd stone pelters and nobody even consoled hundreds of thousands of the shopkeepers, a substantial chunk of the population associated with tourism and equal number of students losing their months due to continued shutdown and clashes.
Congress leader and Minister of Medical Education, R S Chib, visited SKIMS but not to call on the people injured in different incidents of violence. He enquired about a single patient---Syed Ali Shah Geelani---and directed Director of the hospital to provide best possible treatment to the separatist leader. On occasion of the assassination anniversary of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s father in May, another Congress leader and Minister of Health, Sham Lal Sharma, organized a blood donation camp at SKIMS and marked attendance of all of his senior and junior officials at the separatist show.
Without bearing in mind that NC could never take PDP’s position in the Valley’s separatist camp, Omar Abdullah picked up the threads of his job where these had been left by Mufti in November 2005. Even after becoming Chief Minister, he did little to enquire about the condition of the families of nearly 3,000 NC workers and leaders killed by militants for their association with Sheikh Abdullah’s party they held responsible for J&K’s accession to India.
During the first test of his confidence, Omar blindly toed the “popular” line in Shopian in June-September 2009. He and his Ministers attempted to outsmart everybody from PDP to Hurriyat in presenting themselves as “anti-Police”. On one fine morning, Government’s Advocate General, senior separatist advocates and a specially engaged Supreme Court lawyer were seen drafting charges and evidences against four Police officials on a shared table. Even as the CBI investigation later came as an embarrassment for the government, the NC politicians’ public trial of the accused officials demoralized middle and lower rungs of J&K Police.
While demonstrating lack of self confidence, Chief Minister also seemed to be living under serious inferiority complexes. Finding himself at the receiving end of his detractors’ canard, Omar began presenting himself as a Kashmiri Muslim, no inferior to Mufti and Mehbooba. He was shown on official media occasionally performing his prayers in the lead row at Hazratbal. Many here believe that the Khatam-e-Sharief at his residence has become a bolder feature than Cabinet meetings. Analysts insist that religious affiliation of some members of his family has grown as a complex for the young Chief Minister.
(To be continued….)
Part 3
Omar fumbled and faltered from day one in office
Hate-India sentiment became a craze with mainstream politicians
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 14: New Delhi’s policy of having no Kashmir policy proved to be disastrous in the current turbulence. Even as Congress became NC’s coalition partner both at the Central as well as the state level, Kashmir continued to be handled by intelligence and security agencies. Perhaps this would not have been the position with men like Rajesh Pilot in Sonia Gandhi’s Congress and UPA. Left to bureaucracy and the intelligence and security agencies, Kashmir was turned into a political laboratory. In the last several years, Farooq Abdullah’s politics of jingoism—that was perceived to be turning dangerous with NC’s insistence on autonomy---was replaced by Mufi Sayeed’s politics of appeasement.
Enjoying a riding on the tiger for several years, New Delhi found itself in a whirlpool in 2008 when it realized that the Valley’s radical sections were the real beneficiaries of Mufti’s healing touch policy. That they had regrouped and expanded their base substantially became clear when Geelani emerged as the hero of Amarnath land row turmoil and Mufti’s PDP became completely irrelevant. Assembly elections turned the tables soon and an anti-incumbency factor favoured Dr Abdullah’s party. All but one of Mufti’s Cabinet Ministers were defeated by the NC candidates.
Hate-India sentiment was publicly promoted by Mufti and his party to the extent that nobody questioned one of Mufti’s senior Cabinet Ministers as to how Lashkar-e-Toiba militants had stayed at his residence for several weeks before setting out for Ahmedabad in Gujarat to launch a Fidayeen attack on Akshardhaam temple. The Minister resigned when the story appeared in media but Mufti advised him not to quit on “such small matters”.
One of the PDP Ministers lately revealed in a television interview that New Delhi had sent a lot of money to J&K, which Mufti filled in envelops and sent it to the families of the militants dying in encounters with the Special Operations Group and the Indian
security forces. None of the civilian killings, suspected to be done by militants, was ever condemned by then Chief Minister or any of his Ministerial colleagues.
Dangers of leaving the hardline politics uncontested politically became evident in the worst form in the middle of current year when New Delhi failed to get a single politician, with the exception of J&K PCC President, Saif-ud-din Soz, to say a word in entire J&K state against the separatist hardliners grabbing entire space in the Valley. Everybody seemed to be talking of the need to reach out to 500-odd stone pelters and nobody even consoled hundreds of thousands of the shopkeepers, a substantial chunk of the population associated with tourism and equal number of students losing their months due to continued shutdown and clashes.
Congress leader and Minister of Medical Education, R S Chib, visited SKIMS but not to call on the people injured in different incidents of violence. He enquired about a single patient---Syed Ali Shah Geelani---and directed Director of the hospital to provide best possible treatment to the separatist leader. On occasion of the assassination anniversary of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s father in May, another Congress leader and Minister of Health, Sham Lal Sharma, organized a blood donation camp at SKIMS and marked attendance of all of his senior and junior officials at the separatist show.
Without bearing in mind that NC could never take PDP’s position in the Valley’s separatist camp, Omar Abdullah picked up the threads of his job where these had been left by Mufti in November 2005. Even after becoming Chief Minister, he did little to enquire about the condition of the families of nearly 3,000 NC workers and leaders killed by militants for their association with Sheikh Abdullah’s party they held responsible for J&K’s accession to India.
During the first test of his confidence, Omar blindly toed the “popular” line in Shopian in June-September 2009. He and his Ministers attempted to outsmart everybody from PDP to Hurriyat in presenting themselves as “anti-Police”. On one fine morning, Government’s Advocate General, senior separatist advocates and a specially engaged Supreme Court lawyer were seen drafting charges and evidences against four Police officials on a shared table. Even as the CBI investigation later came as an embarrassment for the government, the NC politicians’ public trial of the accused officials demoralized middle and lower rungs of J&K Police.
While demonstrating lack of self confidence, Chief Minister also seemed to be living under serious inferiority complexes. Finding himself at the receiving end of his detractors’ canard, Omar began presenting himself as a Kashmiri Muslim, no inferior to Mufti and Mehbooba. He was shown on official media occasionally performing his prayers in the lead row at Hazratbal. Many here believe that the Khatam-e-Sharief at his residence has become a bolder feature than Cabinet meetings. Analysts insist that religious affiliation of some members of his family has grown as a complex for the young Chief Minister.
(To be continued….)
2 killed in clashes at Anantnag, Narbal
Demonstrations, attacks on camps continue inspite of curfew in Valley
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 14: Taking the toll of the civilians killed in clashes with Police and CRPF since June 11th June in Kashmir valley to 54, demonstrations and attacks on camps of armed forces continued amid total shutdown and curfew today. For the first time today, groups of youth seized much revered Hazratbal shrine and shouted pro-Azadi slogans after an attack on Police barracks while as someone reportedly fired on CRPF from a .12 bore rifle at Narbal, leaving five personnel wounded.
Informed sources told Early Times that an unruly mob attacked a CRPF party while it was withdrawing in the evening at Lazbal in Ananag this evening. During the fierce clash, CRPF opened fire. One teenager, namely Irshad Ahmed Latoo S/o Mohammad Ramzan Latoo R/o Sher-e-Kashmir Colony got killed and four others sustained gunshot wounds. Two of them were reportedly rushed to SKIMS and two more admitted to SMHS Hospital Srinagar.
Medical Superintendent SMHS Hospital, Dr Waseem Qureshi, said that two persons injured in the firing at Anantnag were admitted with gunshots in their knees. He said that both were given medical treatment and they were stable. He said that one 65-year-old civilian, who has reportedly sustained gunshot wounds in Kupwara, was also under treatment at SMHS Hospital.
Sources said that a clash took place between a group of people and CRPF at Narbal this evening when the paramilitary party was returning from Magam. CRPF opened fire. One person, namely Umar Ahmed Dar S/o Mohammad Ramzan Dar R/o Narbal got killed.
An official spokesman said that security forces withdrawing from K P chowk came under heavy stone pelting from a huge mob at Sarnal Laazbal,Anantnag. The mob attacked the vehicles as well as the CRPF party. The forces tried their best to control the mob by using minimum force.
However, the mob did not relent and the forces had to resort to a controlled fire in self defence in which one person identified as Ishtiaq Ahmed Latoo is reported to have died. He said that another CRPF party returning from Magam, on Srinagar-Gulmarg Road,came under heavy stone pelting . Someone among the miscreants fired on the CRPF column with .12 Bore gun, injuring 4 CRPF personnel. The forces retaliated in self defence injuring one person who later succumbed to his injuries.
The CRPF personnel who got injured have been identified as HC G. Singh, HC FD Wadana, Ct Buttal Singh Ct Y Chandra Babu are being treated in District Hospital, Budgam, where the doctors on duty confirmed that they have recieved .12 bore injuries.
However, residents at both places insisted that CRPF opened fire when people were returning to home peacefully after performing evening prayers at local mosques. They said that two youths were killed in the firing and several others sustained injuries.
Earlier in the day, officials said that a mob attacked Army camp at Seelu as also a Police-CRPF camp at Bumai in Sopore area. Over a dozen demonstrators reportedly sustained injuries in retaliatory action from the armed forces. One person got injured in an early morning clash at Singhpura, Pattan, and another was reportedly injured in a shootout at Shopian.
Sources said that clashes between the unruly mobs and separatist demonstrations took place at more than 50 places in Kashmir valley today. In all, 2 people died and at least 60 sustained injuries in these clashes and attacks.
Here in Srinagar, pro-Azadi demonstrators created a huge scene when they, for the first time in 13 years, attacked barracks of Police guards at Hazratbal shrine and later took the revered shrine into their control. They also shouted anti-India and pro-Azadi slogans for over half an hour on the public address system. Police succeeded in driving the group out but not before a number of the officials, including a Dy SP, sustained injuries.
Curfew and shutdown remained in force in almost entire Kashmir valley.
END
Demonstrations, attacks on camps continue inspite of curfew in Valley
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 14: Taking the toll of the civilians killed in clashes with Police and CRPF since June 11th June in Kashmir valley to 54, demonstrations and attacks on camps of armed forces continued amid total shutdown and curfew today. For the first time today, groups of youth seized much revered Hazratbal shrine and shouted pro-Azadi slogans after an attack on Police barracks while as someone reportedly fired on CRPF from a .12 bore rifle at Narbal, leaving five personnel wounded.
Informed sources told Early Times that an unruly mob attacked a CRPF party while it was withdrawing in the evening at Lazbal in Ananag this evening. During the fierce clash, CRPF opened fire. One teenager, namely Irshad Ahmed Latoo S/o Mohammad Ramzan Latoo R/o Sher-e-Kashmir Colony got killed and four others sustained gunshot wounds. Two of them were reportedly rushed to SKIMS and two more admitted to SMHS Hospital Srinagar.
Medical Superintendent SMHS Hospital, Dr Waseem Qureshi, said that two persons injured in the firing at Anantnag were admitted with gunshots in their knees. He said that both were given medical treatment and they were stable. He said that one 65-year-old civilian, who has reportedly sustained gunshot wounds in Kupwara, was also under treatment at SMHS Hospital.
Sources said that a clash took place between a group of people and CRPF at Narbal this evening when the paramilitary party was returning from Magam. CRPF opened fire. One person, namely Umar Ahmed Dar S/o Mohammad Ramzan Dar R/o Narbal got killed.
An official spokesman said that security forces withdrawing from K P chowk came under heavy stone pelting from a huge mob at Sarnal Laazbal,Anantnag. The mob attacked the vehicles as well as the CRPF party. The forces tried their best to control the mob by using minimum force.
However, the mob did not relent and the forces had to resort to a controlled fire in self defence in which one person identified as Ishtiaq Ahmed Latoo is reported to have died. He said that another CRPF party returning from Magam, on Srinagar-Gulmarg Road,came under heavy stone pelting . Someone among the miscreants fired on the CRPF column with .12 Bore gun, injuring 4 CRPF personnel. The forces retaliated in self defence injuring one person who later succumbed to his injuries.
The CRPF personnel who got injured have been identified as HC G. Singh, HC FD Wadana, Ct Buttal Singh Ct Y Chandra Babu are being treated in District Hospital, Budgam, where the doctors on duty confirmed that they have recieved .12 bore injuries.
However, residents at both places insisted that CRPF opened fire when people were returning to home peacefully after performing evening prayers at local mosques. They said that two youths were killed in the firing and several others sustained injuries.
Earlier in the day, officials said that a mob attacked Army camp at Seelu as also a Police-CRPF camp at Bumai in Sopore area. Over a dozen demonstrators reportedly sustained injuries in retaliatory action from the armed forces. One person got injured in an early morning clash at Singhpura, Pattan, and another was reportedly injured in a shootout at Shopian.
Sources said that clashes between the unruly mobs and separatist demonstrations took place at more than 50 places in Kashmir valley today. In all, 2 people died and at least 60 sustained injuries in these clashes and attacks.
Here in Srinagar, pro-Azadi demonstrators created a huge scene when they, for the first time in 13 years, attacked barracks of Police guards at Hazratbal shrine and later took the revered shrine into their control. They also shouted anti-India and pro-Azadi slogans for over half an hour on the public address system. Police succeeded in driving the group out but not before a number of the officials, including a Dy SP, sustained injuries.
Curfew and shutdown remained in force in almost entire Kashmir valley.
END
Friday, August 13, 2010
What went wrong with Omar’s Kashmir?
Hardliner Geelani flourished only after 2002
UPA showered adjectives to soothe Omar, lost all gains Delhi made in J&K in 20 years
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 13: It was more than on one occasion that New Delhi attempted to neutralize Paklistan’s plebiscite argument on the international diplomacy front with the participation of the Kashmiris in Assembly elections of 2008. Diminishing militancy was simultaneously celebrated as an achievement. Having meticulously bargained power with National Conference (NC), Congress refused to come out of its complacency. Rather than taking political initiatives from the commanding position it enjoyed first time in the last several years, Congress-led UPA government made hardly any attempt to perceive the back swing in Omar Abdullah’s popularity in the Valley.
Omar alone was never to blame for the reverse. For months, he was beguiled into the uncouth romanticism by the Centre. The attribute of the “youngest Chief Minister’ did not go till the poor politician’s hair turned grey a year later. As lately as on June 7th this year, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, disappointed many in the Valley by restricting his offer of dialogue to only those sections “who are against violence and bloodshed”. During his visit in Srinagar next day, he described Omar “not only the youngest but also the most competent Chief Minister”. Men like Narendra Modi and even women like Shiela Dixit may not have taken ill of the appreciation as they knew that the Prime Minister’s assessment was based on a PowerPoint presentation---powerful indeed---but not on the real parameters of governance and development.
Earlier, these days last year, Manmohan Singh’s Minister of Home Affairs, P Chidambaram, had set off the balloon of “quiet diplomacy” in Srinagar. That whole drama of “quiet diplomacy” ended with anti-climax when unidentified persons attacked Hurriyat dove, Fazal Haq Qureishi, in vicinity of his residence in Soura.
Sustained marginalization of so-called moderates in the Valley’s separatist camp led to proportionate swelling of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s influence. Octogenarian Geelani knew that New Delhi’s permissiveness of the hate-India sentiment in Jammu & Kashmir was to the best of his advantage. He also perceived weakness of the rulers in Srinagar to showcase soft corner for the hardliners. It took him just months to realize that the youngest Chief Minister was well on Mufti Sayeed’s track of velvet fist rather than Farooq Abdullah’s iron gloves.
Watching Omar forward PDP’s healing touch policy to the extent of issuing Passports to the most persecuted sections of the separatists and militants and, in fact, beginning his work after expansion of his Cabinet with recruiting over 300 of the Jamaat-e-Islami activists as teachers, Geelani began to assert afresh.
Geelani, indeed, stands out in the crowd of Kashmiri politicians in professing the art of building his strength over the weaknesses of the Indian democratic system. In certain areas, he has indisputably outclassed even the towering Sheikh Abdullah. Contrary to Abdullah, Geelani’s base of influence was for decades limited to just a section of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Even when Sheikh was in jail, Geelani was among the five Jamaat-e-Islami candidates whose victory was dubiously facilitated by Mrs Indira Gandhi’s Congress party in the fraudulently conducted Assembly elections of 1972. It happened years before Bhindranwale was picked up for a role in the SGPC elections in Punjab. By the time a secessionist guerrilla movement erupted in Kashmir in 1989 and the Jamaat firebrand resigned as a MUF MLA, he had represented his constituency of Sopore for three terms and contested more elections than any of the state’s Chief Ministers and their family members.
Geelani’s influence in the separatist camp was penuriously limited till 2002, notwithstanding his acting as Hurriyat’s chairman for a term. Then a Jamaat ideologue, he was harshly pushed out of a condolence meeting over the assassination of People Conference founder Abdul Gani Lone. Many in the PC suspected him of being friendly with Lone’s assassins. They had no hesitation in asserting publicly.
When Mufti Sayeed engineered Hurriyat’s first split in 2003 after 10 years of its existence by inducting Lone’s confidante and PC’s proxy MLA from Handwara, Mohiuddin Sofi, as a Minister, none of the constituents sided with Geelani. Diving in controversy after controversy, Geelani was expelled even from the Jamaat he had served for over 40 years. He was reprimanded by then Pakistani President, Gen Musharraf, for his lack of reconciliation. Then came his real defining moments. He not only launched his own, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, but also projected an alliance of nondescript separatist groups as the “real” Hurriyat. This is the alliance that is calling the shots in Kashmir today and has, for the first time, brought New Delhi to its knees. Much of its credit unmistakably goes to Mufti, followed by Omar.
(To be continued….)
Part-2
Hardliner Geelani flourished only after 2002
UPA showered adjectives to soothe Omar, lost all gains Delhi made in J&K in 20 years
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 13: It was more than on one occasion that New Delhi attempted to neutralize Paklistan’s plebiscite argument on the international diplomacy front with the participation of the Kashmiris in Assembly elections of 2008. Diminishing militancy was simultaneously celebrated as an achievement. Having meticulously bargained power with National Conference (NC), Congress refused to come out of its complacency. Rather than taking political initiatives from the commanding position it enjoyed first time in the last several years, Congress-led UPA government made hardly any attempt to perceive the back swing in Omar Abdullah’s popularity in the Valley.
Omar alone was never to blame for the reverse. For months, he was beguiled into the uncouth romanticism by the Centre. The attribute of the “youngest Chief Minister’ did not go till the poor politician’s hair turned grey a year later. As lately as on June 7th this year, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, disappointed many in the Valley by restricting his offer of dialogue to only those sections “who are against violence and bloodshed”. During his visit in Srinagar next day, he described Omar “not only the youngest but also the most competent Chief Minister”. Men like Narendra Modi and even women like Shiela Dixit may not have taken ill of the appreciation as they knew that the Prime Minister’s assessment was based on a PowerPoint presentation---powerful indeed---but not on the real parameters of governance and development.
Earlier, these days last year, Manmohan Singh’s Minister of Home Affairs, P Chidambaram, had set off the balloon of “quiet diplomacy” in Srinagar. That whole drama of “quiet diplomacy” ended with anti-climax when unidentified persons attacked Hurriyat dove, Fazal Haq Qureishi, in vicinity of his residence in Soura.
Sustained marginalization of so-called moderates in the Valley’s separatist camp led to proportionate swelling of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s influence. Octogenarian Geelani knew that New Delhi’s permissiveness of the hate-India sentiment in Jammu & Kashmir was to the best of his advantage. He also perceived weakness of the rulers in Srinagar to showcase soft corner for the hardliners. It took him just months to realize that the youngest Chief Minister was well on Mufti Sayeed’s track of velvet fist rather than Farooq Abdullah’s iron gloves.
Watching Omar forward PDP’s healing touch policy to the extent of issuing Passports to the most persecuted sections of the separatists and militants and, in fact, beginning his work after expansion of his Cabinet with recruiting over 300 of the Jamaat-e-Islami activists as teachers, Geelani began to assert afresh.
Geelani, indeed, stands out in the crowd of Kashmiri politicians in professing the art of building his strength over the weaknesses of the Indian democratic system. In certain areas, he has indisputably outclassed even the towering Sheikh Abdullah. Contrary to Abdullah, Geelani’s base of influence was for decades limited to just a section of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Even when Sheikh was in jail, Geelani was among the five Jamaat-e-Islami candidates whose victory was dubiously facilitated by Mrs Indira Gandhi’s Congress party in the fraudulently conducted Assembly elections of 1972. It happened years before Bhindranwale was picked up for a role in the SGPC elections in Punjab. By the time a secessionist guerrilla movement erupted in Kashmir in 1989 and the Jamaat firebrand resigned as a MUF MLA, he had represented his constituency of Sopore for three terms and contested more elections than any of the state’s Chief Ministers and their family members.
Geelani’s influence in the separatist camp was penuriously limited till 2002, notwithstanding his acting as Hurriyat’s chairman for a term. Then a Jamaat ideologue, he was harshly pushed out of a condolence meeting over the assassination of People Conference founder Abdul Gani Lone. Many in the PC suspected him of being friendly with Lone’s assassins. They had no hesitation in asserting publicly.
When Mufti Sayeed engineered Hurriyat’s first split in 2003 after 10 years of its existence by inducting Lone’s confidante and PC’s proxy MLA from Handwara, Mohiuddin Sofi, as a Minister, none of the constituents sided with Geelani. Diving in controversy after controversy, Geelani was expelled even from the Jamaat he had served for over 40 years. He was reprimanded by then Pakistani President, Gen Musharraf, for his lack of reconciliation. Then came his real defining moments. He not only launched his own, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, but also projected an alliance of nondescript separatist groups as the “real” Hurriyat. This is the alliance that is calling the shots in Kashmir today and has, for the first time, brought New Delhi to its knees. Much of its credit unmistakably goes to Mufti, followed by Omar.
(To be continued….)
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Part-1
What went wrong with Omar’s Kashmir?
Contrary to Sheikh’s egoism and Farooq’s jingoism, the ‘youngest CM’ lived under inferiority complex
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 12: Phenomenal success of the Assembly elections of 2008 set in a wave of jubilation and euphoria in the mainstream political circles and establishment from Srinagar to New Delhi. A little over 61% of the electorate had exercised their franchise---over 1700,000 of them in Kashmir valley alone---without any sort of coercion, fist time since 1987. Few among the political analysts and very senior politicians had expected this historic turnout in an Indian democratic exercise held in weeks of a mass street agitation in the Valley.
Most of the people, who participated in the election, as well as many of those who did not, for varied reasons, seemed to have reasons behind their relief. The elections reversed the situation of an unprecedented regional and communal divide witnessed in the middle of 2008. There was a lot of jubilation over Omar Abdullah becoming the country's youngest Chief Minister. They thought the young Chief Minister understood the importance of blending employment opportunities, development and political resolution of the Kashmir issue by strengthening dialogue between India and Pakistan.
In most of his statements during the election campaign, Omar had underscored the need of responsive governance and specified “better roads, power supplies, drinking water, healthcare and qualitative education” as the major indicators of the government's performance.
Suffering from the disadvantage of being a non-resident politician, whose importance stemmed from his dynastic background, Omar demonstrated his lack of political understanding and administrative acumen from his day one in office. While bargaining partnership with Congress and later making two selections of his Council of Ministers, he made blatant mistakes.
Obviously, in lieu of his full six-year term as Chief Minister, he handed almost all of his flagship portfolios---roads, water, health, education---to the coalition partner, Congress. He lacked numerical strength to form the government of his own but still had nearly double the seats Mufti Mohammad Sayeed possessed in November 2002. Shepherd of the thin herd of 16 in a House of 87, Mufti did not budge an inch from his cardinal demand of holding the first half of his coalition government’s term. He made Congress bow with his obduracy for a full month after declaration of the results.
Omar also humiliated the most influential of his party colleagues, including the one who had secured highest number of votes among more than 2,000 contestants in Kashmir, by keeping them out of his Cabinet. Those inducted were no less disappointed over their 'insignificant' portfolios. Bureaucrats and officials, known for their rank opportunism, political loyalty and proximity to the Opposition, managed to retain key positions in Omar-led coalition government.
Omar’s father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who shifted to the national platform, was also appointed NC's President. Party’s organizational structure passed through a fresh membership drive but the key office bearers were never appointed. Omar’s predicament became public last month when, during the course of a television interview, he said that he had more time than his father to operate as the NC’s President.
Consequently, an effective delivery system, consistent with NC's election manifesto, vision document and political ideology, failed to be in place. CM never seemed to be having liaison with his party rank and file, including the seniormost legislators and Ministers of his government. Like total inertia during the days of pandemonium over Shopian in 2008, NC’s leaders, legislators and Ministers seldom held a deliberation over the current spate of street turmoil until it blew into a catastrophe two months ago.
Within weeks of his taking over in January 2009, complacency and nonchalance was abundantly in evidence. Chief Minister attended little business in the maiden session of the legislature. He enjoyed alpine skiing over Afarwat on the day of his first reply on the Governor’s address. His notes had been saved meticulously by his officials and aides and the speech was pretty emphatic but his absence from the House was marked with disdain by the Opposition and with concern by the Treasury Benches.
Over the months, Omar seemed to believe that connections with New Delhi were more important than the liaison with his electors in the state. This led almost to a political vacuum and system failure in governance. Ignominiously marginalized by the elections, Valley’s separatist leadership found it easier to stage a comeback. Growing disillusionment among the masses came handy to hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani who literally wept over the Kashmiris’ infidelity of participating in the 2008 elections at a news conference after his release from jail and seemed to be desperately looking for issues until as recently as in May 2010.
Geelani, who was seen using his elbow to grab a bit of the political space with the vegetarian issue of restricting Amarnath pilgrimage to 15 days, with the real concern on ecology, has filled up the vacuum with aplomb and grown as an undisputed king of Kashmir’s secessionist politics in the last two months. He is now deciding on what days Omar and his Cabinet Ministers can move on the roads in Kashmir and when the government’s offices should open and close.
(To be continued....)
What went wrong with Omar’s Kashmir?
Contrary to Sheikh’s egoism and Farooq’s jingoism, the ‘youngest CM’ lived under inferiority complex
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 12: Phenomenal success of the Assembly elections of 2008 set in a wave of jubilation and euphoria in the mainstream political circles and establishment from Srinagar to New Delhi. A little over 61% of the electorate had exercised their franchise---over 1700,000 of them in Kashmir valley alone---without any sort of coercion, fist time since 1987. Few among the political analysts and very senior politicians had expected this historic turnout in an Indian democratic exercise held in weeks of a mass street agitation in the Valley.
Most of the people, who participated in the election, as well as many of those who did not, for varied reasons, seemed to have reasons behind their relief. The elections reversed the situation of an unprecedented regional and communal divide witnessed in the middle of 2008. There was a lot of jubilation over Omar Abdullah becoming the country's youngest Chief Minister. They thought the young Chief Minister understood the importance of blending employment opportunities, development and political resolution of the Kashmir issue by strengthening dialogue between India and Pakistan.
In most of his statements during the election campaign, Omar had underscored the need of responsive governance and specified “better roads, power supplies, drinking water, healthcare and qualitative education” as the major indicators of the government's performance.
Suffering from the disadvantage of being a non-resident politician, whose importance stemmed from his dynastic background, Omar demonstrated his lack of political understanding and administrative acumen from his day one in office. While bargaining partnership with Congress and later making two selections of his Council of Ministers, he made blatant mistakes.
Obviously, in lieu of his full six-year term as Chief Minister, he handed almost all of his flagship portfolios---roads, water, health, education---to the coalition partner, Congress. He lacked numerical strength to form the government of his own but still had nearly double the seats Mufti Mohammad Sayeed possessed in November 2002. Shepherd of the thin herd of 16 in a House of 87, Mufti did not budge an inch from his cardinal demand of holding the first half of his coalition government’s term. He made Congress bow with his obduracy for a full month after declaration of the results.
Omar also humiliated the most influential of his party colleagues, including the one who had secured highest number of votes among more than 2,000 contestants in Kashmir, by keeping them out of his Cabinet. Those inducted were no less disappointed over their 'insignificant' portfolios. Bureaucrats and officials, known for their rank opportunism, political loyalty and proximity to the Opposition, managed to retain key positions in Omar-led coalition government.
Omar’s father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who shifted to the national platform, was also appointed NC's President. Party’s organizational structure passed through a fresh membership drive but the key office bearers were never appointed. Omar’s predicament became public last month when, during the course of a television interview, he said that he had more time than his father to operate as the NC’s President.
Consequently, an effective delivery system, consistent with NC's election manifesto, vision document and political ideology, failed to be in place. CM never seemed to be having liaison with his party rank and file, including the seniormost legislators and Ministers of his government. Like total inertia during the days of pandemonium over Shopian in 2008, NC’s leaders, legislators and Ministers seldom held a deliberation over the current spate of street turmoil until it blew into a catastrophe two months ago.
Within weeks of his taking over in January 2009, complacency and nonchalance was abundantly in evidence. Chief Minister attended little business in the maiden session of the legislature. He enjoyed alpine skiing over Afarwat on the day of his first reply on the Governor’s address. His notes had been saved meticulously by his officials and aides and the speech was pretty emphatic but his absence from the House was marked with disdain by the Opposition and with concern by the Treasury Benches.
Over the months, Omar seemed to believe that connections with New Delhi were more important than the liaison with his electors in the state. This led almost to a political vacuum and system failure in governance. Ignominiously marginalized by the elections, Valley’s separatist leadership found it easier to stage a comeback. Growing disillusionment among the masses came handy to hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani who literally wept over the Kashmiris’ infidelity of participating in the 2008 elections at a news conference after his release from jail and seemed to be desperately looking for issues until as recently as in May 2010.
Geelani, who was seen using his elbow to grab a bit of the political space with the vegetarian issue of restricting Amarnath pilgrimage to 15 days, with the real concern on ecology, has filled up the vacuum with aplomb and grown as an undisputed king of Kashmir’s secessionist politics in the last two months. He is now deciding on what days Omar and his Cabinet Ministers can move on the roads in Kashmir and when the government’s offices should open and close.
(To be continued....)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Mass Com student found killed in Baramulla
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 10: Dead body of 18-year-old Syed Farak Bukhari S/o Syed Bashir Ahmed Bukhari R/o Kreeri, Baramulla, was recovered today from Ningli Nullah in Chhoora area in Sopore-Pattan belt of north Kashmir. A student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Government Degree College Baramulla, Bukhari had been missing since July 28th.
Informed sources said that a farmer spotted the partly decomposed human body and informed Police. Men from Police Post Chhoora rushed to the spot and recovered the dead body. The teenager was found dead with his hands amputated and the throat slit. Eyewitnesses said that there were clear torture marks on the body.
Large number of people, including more than a thousand residents of Kreeri, rushed to the spot and took the body into custody. While shouting slogans and leveling allegation that Bukhari had been arrested by Police and security forces and done to death in custody, they demanded credible investigation and legal action under the culprits. Reports said that the gathering occupied Srinagar-Baramulla highway and staged a sit-in. Authorities failed to remove the angry crowd till late tonight.
Police had already filed a missing report which was now reportedly being converted into a murder case under section 302 RPC. Officials were reportedly trying to pacify the gathering with assurances of transparent investigation with the plea that Police be allowed to conduct post mortem and carry on the investigation accordingly. Residents had been agitating the matter of Bukhari’s mysterious disappearance since last two weeks by way of demonstrations following which Baramulla Police had constituted a Special Investigating Team.
Sources said that one photo-identity card and two mobile phones with SIM cards were recovered from pockets of the slain student’s clothes which facilitated his identification.
END
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 10: Dead body of 18-year-old Syed Farak Bukhari S/o Syed Bashir Ahmed Bukhari R/o Kreeri, Baramulla, was recovered today from Ningli Nullah in Chhoora area in Sopore-Pattan belt of north Kashmir. A student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Government Degree College Baramulla, Bukhari had been missing since July 28th.
Informed sources said that a farmer spotted the partly decomposed human body and informed Police. Men from Police Post Chhoora rushed to the spot and recovered the dead body. The teenager was found dead with his hands amputated and the throat slit. Eyewitnesses said that there were clear torture marks on the body.
Large number of people, including more than a thousand residents of Kreeri, rushed to the spot and took the body into custody. While shouting slogans and leveling allegation that Bukhari had been arrested by Police and security forces and done to death in custody, they demanded credible investigation and legal action under the culprits. Reports said that the gathering occupied Srinagar-Baramulla highway and staged a sit-in. Authorities failed to remove the angry crowd till late tonight.
Police had already filed a missing report which was now reportedly being converted into a murder case under section 302 RPC. Officials were reportedly trying to pacify the gathering with assurances of transparent investigation with the plea that Police be allowed to conduct post mortem and carry on the investigation accordingly. Residents had been agitating the matter of Bukhari’s mysterious disappearance since last two weeks by way of demonstrations following which Baramulla Police had constituted a Special Investigating Team.
Sources said that one photo-identity card and two mobile phones with SIM cards were recovered from pockets of the slain student’s clothes which facilitated his identification.
END
Monday, August 9, 2010
Asiya surprised by minority’s tears over insecurity
‘They (Hindus, Sikhs) will have to be part of Quit J&K Movement’
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 9: Dukhtaraan-e-Millat chairperson and radical separatist leader, Asiya Andrabi, today said that the non-Muslim minorities were free to join or not to join Kashmir’s “freedom struggle” but she made it clear that they will have to observe shutdown over the separatists’ calls and become a part of the current ‘Quit Jammu & Kashmir Movement’.
Disappointed over reports that two delegations of the Hindus and the Sikhs had called on the Hurriyat (G) Chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and “wept bitterly” over the sense of their insecurity, Dukhtaraan chief said that it had hurt the sentiments of the majority community in Kashmir.
“Delegations of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti and All-party Sikh Coordination Committee have badly hurt the sentiments of the Muslims of Kashmir by weeping bitterly over their insecurity and choosing this form the expression before Syed Ali Shah Geelani”, Asiya said in a statement released here this evening. According to her, Pandits and Sikhs were free to join or not to join the “freedom struggle” but they could not be exempted from observing shutdown over the calls issued by the Valley’s separatist leaders. “Whenever, there is a call for shutdown, nobody will be allowed to operate shops or vehicles. They (Pandits and Sikhs) will have to essentially show their solidarity with Jammu Kashmir Chhordo Tehreek (by closing businesses and freezing vehicles on the days of shutdown)”, Asiya said.
According to her, the religious minorities in Kashmir would have to join ‘Quit Jammu & Kashmir Movement’ as both, majority as well as minority, would have to taste the fruit of the freedom together (after winning it whenever).
Delegations of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs had called on Mr Geelani here on Sunday and wept bitterly over their sense of insecurity. They had, reportedly, lamented before the octogenarian separatist leader over incidents of certain people harassing and forcing them to join the separatist demonstrations and other such programmes. Geelani, according to reports, had assured them nobody would be allowed to carry on activities aimed at causing another migration of the minorities.
In her angry terse reaction, 50-year-old Dukhtaraan supremo claimed that the Kashmiri Muslims had always taken “extraordinary care” of the non-Muslim minorities. “Whenever an affliction did befall on the minorities, there was invariably an Indian sinister plan behind. From the mass migration of Pandits in 1990 to the massacre (of Sikhs and Pandits) at Chittisinghpura and Nadimarg, all these catastrophes were the handiwork of top Indian intelligence agencies. Kashmiri Muslims are extremely sensitive and humane”, Asia added.
Mrs Andrabi claimed that even in the current days of crisis, Muslims had been providing maximum of the relief to the non-Muslims, who, according to her, had admitted it for themselves in various statements.
“In 2008, (members of) Sangharash Samiti burnded alive a number of Kashmiri Muslim drivers. It was all horrible and heart-rending but we observed maximum of our restraint and did not harm even a single (Amarnath shrine) pilgrim”, Asiya asserted. As for providing security to the non-Muslim minorities, she argued that the majority community itself was at the receiving end as none of their lives and properties were secure. “When we are ourselves insecure, how can we guarantee security of the minorities?” she asked. “Minorities can ask for security from the majority only after we get freedom from India”, she added. She said that everybody would have to live with a sense of insecurity as long as the Kashmiri Muslims struggled for “freedom for Islam”.
Meanwhile, after Geelani, Jamaat-e-Islami has also assured security and dignity to members of the non-Muslim communities in Kashmir. A spokesman of the organization said in a statement today that the minorities were an integral part of the Kashmir society and they would have to feel secure.
Meanwhile, Kashmir valley today observed total shutdown over Mr Geelani’s call of three days of “protest strike”. Authorities declared and enforced curfew in Srinagar while as similar restrictions were in place at almost all over district headquarters and major townships with formal announcement of curfew. Reports said that there was no major incident of violation or clash with forces, though thin groups of youngsters clashed with Police and CRPF at some places. Official sources said that not a single bullet was fired anywhere as the unruly groups dispersed by tearsmoke. These reports said that a mob manhandled a Police constable and torched his motorcycle at Shopian.
END
‘They (Hindus, Sikhs) will have to be part of Quit J&K Movement’
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 9: Dukhtaraan-e-Millat chairperson and radical separatist leader, Asiya Andrabi, today said that the non-Muslim minorities were free to join or not to join Kashmir’s “freedom struggle” but she made it clear that they will have to observe shutdown over the separatists’ calls and become a part of the current ‘Quit Jammu & Kashmir Movement’.
Disappointed over reports that two delegations of the Hindus and the Sikhs had called on the Hurriyat (G) Chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and “wept bitterly” over the sense of their insecurity, Dukhtaraan chief said that it had hurt the sentiments of the majority community in Kashmir.
“Delegations of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti and All-party Sikh Coordination Committee have badly hurt the sentiments of the Muslims of Kashmir by weeping bitterly over their insecurity and choosing this form the expression before Syed Ali Shah Geelani”, Asiya said in a statement released here this evening. According to her, Pandits and Sikhs were free to join or not to join the “freedom struggle” but they could not be exempted from observing shutdown over the calls issued by the Valley’s separatist leaders. “Whenever, there is a call for shutdown, nobody will be allowed to operate shops or vehicles. They (Pandits and Sikhs) will have to essentially show their solidarity with Jammu Kashmir Chhordo Tehreek (by closing businesses and freezing vehicles on the days of shutdown)”, Asiya said.
According to her, the religious minorities in Kashmir would have to join ‘Quit Jammu & Kashmir Movement’ as both, majority as well as minority, would have to taste the fruit of the freedom together (after winning it whenever).
Delegations of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs had called on Mr Geelani here on Sunday and wept bitterly over their sense of insecurity. They had, reportedly, lamented before the octogenarian separatist leader over incidents of certain people harassing and forcing them to join the separatist demonstrations and other such programmes. Geelani, according to reports, had assured them nobody would be allowed to carry on activities aimed at causing another migration of the minorities.
In her angry terse reaction, 50-year-old Dukhtaraan supremo claimed that the Kashmiri Muslims had always taken “extraordinary care” of the non-Muslim minorities. “Whenever an affliction did befall on the minorities, there was invariably an Indian sinister plan behind. From the mass migration of Pandits in 1990 to the massacre (of Sikhs and Pandits) at Chittisinghpura and Nadimarg, all these catastrophes were the handiwork of top Indian intelligence agencies. Kashmiri Muslims are extremely sensitive and humane”, Asia added.
Mrs Andrabi claimed that even in the current days of crisis, Muslims had been providing maximum of the relief to the non-Muslims, who, according to her, had admitted it for themselves in various statements.
“In 2008, (members of) Sangharash Samiti burnded alive a number of Kashmiri Muslim drivers. It was all horrible and heart-rending but we observed maximum of our restraint and did not harm even a single (Amarnath shrine) pilgrim”, Asiya asserted. As for providing security to the non-Muslim minorities, she argued that the majority community itself was at the receiving end as none of their lives and properties were secure. “When we are ourselves insecure, how can we guarantee security of the minorities?” she asked. “Minorities can ask for security from the majority only after we get freedom from India”, she added. She said that everybody would have to live with a sense of insecurity as long as the Kashmiri Muslims struggled for “freedom for Islam”.
Meanwhile, after Geelani, Jamaat-e-Islami has also assured security and dignity to members of the non-Muslim communities in Kashmir. A spokesman of the organization said in a statement today that the minorities were an integral part of the Kashmir society and they would have to feel secure.
Meanwhile, Kashmir valley today observed total shutdown over Mr Geelani’s call of three days of “protest strike”. Authorities declared and enforced curfew in Srinagar while as similar restrictions were in place at almost all over district headquarters and major townships with formal announcement of curfew. Reports said that there was no major incident of violation or clash with forces, though thin groups of youngsters clashed with Police and CRPF at some places. Official sources said that not a single bullet was fired anywhere as the unruly groups dispersed by tearsmoke. These reports said that a mob manhandled a Police constable and torched his motorcycle at Shopian.
END
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