- ‘Mehbooba Mufti has lost moral ground to rule the state’
- ‘Modi should review his Kashmir policy and take concrete steps as Vajpayee did’
- Punish those involved in killings to create atmosphere of accountability’
- ‘Exams must be postponed and jailed students should be released’
- ‘India civil society should see Kashmir through the prism of humanity’
- ‘We should have been released ahead of the delegation’s visit last month so that we could meet and do consultations’
Militant commander Burhan Wani’s killing only served as a trigger for the ongoing unrest in Kashmir valley as the atmosphere was already charged by controversies including setting up of Sainik colonies and separate settlements for Kashmiri pundits, according to Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
In an interview with senior journalist, Santosh Bhartya during his incarceration at sub-jail Cheshma-Shahi, Mirwaiz underlined the political nature of Kashmir issue, asserting that as long as Government of India treats it as a mere administrative or law and order problem, Valley will continue to witness uprisings like in 2008, 2010 and now in 2016.
Mirwaiz has been spearheading the separatist response along with the other two senior leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik in the wake of massive valley-wide protests against Burhan’s killing.
“Presently, it is the fifth generation of Kashmiri people which is suffering due to the conflict. But the irony is that Government of India is not ready to accept it. India is adamant that Kashmir is a law and order problem, it is the issue of Bijli, Sadak, Pani and a mere administrative issue. But fact of the matter is that Kashmir is a political issue and an accepted dispute which has a background. Unless and until it is addressed keeping in view that background the present type of situations will continue to occur. That is why it happened in 2008, 2010 and now in 2016,” Mirwaiz said.
Accusing New Delhi of projecting a misleading picture of Kashmir, he said: “We have been telling GoI repeatedly that tourist flow to Kashmir does not represent the real picture of Kashmir but they have been taking shelter in manufactured truths and they have been highlighting the manufactured situation. The real picture of Kashmir is that people are not allowed to raise their voice.”
“Even religious activities are banned people are barred to offer prayers in Jamia Masjid Srinagar since three months now. Kashmir is virtually a police state.”
Mirwaiz said Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing worked only as a trigger. “The situation was brewing since very early due to plans of Sainik colonies, separate colonies for pundits etc.”
He said PDP’s controversial alliance with BJP also angered people in Kashmir. “PDP fought elections on the issues that it will fight India on human rights and political fronts regarding Kashmir but the party shook hands with the same forces to reach the throne and that too made people angry.”
Referring to the hardened stance of BJP visi-a-vis the separatist leadership, he said: “Surprisingly, the same BJP which is part of the government in the state as well was engaged with us when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. We were even allowed to travel to Pakistan to hold talks there but things have changed altogether now. The Hurriyat leadership is caged, and we are not even allowed to meet.”
Calling the present situation in the valley as very grim, he said: “Those who call themselves as people’s elected representatives are killing, maiming and jailing the same people. Pellets are showered on them and the situation is very grim.”
The Hurriyat (M) chief said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has lost moral ground to rule the state.
Regarding the corrective measures to restore peace in the restive valley, he said: “The biggest corrective measure would be to accept that Kashmir is not any administrative issue. May it be NC, PDP or anyone else, I along with Geelani sahib and Yasin Saheb have been telling them that if they want to do any service to Kashmiri people they should categorically tell and make New Delhi understand that it is not any sponsored matter, orchestered or funded. But they have failed on this front.”
“They have instead registered cases against thousands of people, arrested 10000 and injured 15000 persons. They are on a killing spree. I can tell you with authority that may it be Mufti, Farooq, Omar or Mehbooba, they have been puppets not authorities. They have been always doing what New Delhi told them to do.”
Referring to his brief meetings with Indian parliamentarians, Sitaram Yechury and Asaduddin Owaisi, he said: “See, Mr Yachuri and Mr Owaisi had come to me some time back, I asked them about their initiatives they had promised. I told them that they forget everything once they are back in New Delhi. They also confessed their wrong doings. Surprisingly, they were still in Srinagar and Rajnath Singh disassociated himself from their coming to us which vindicated our stand of not holding any formal dialogue with them, because they had no mandate to talk to us.”
Stating that people of Kashmir have achieved a moral victory, Mirwaiz said: “The resilience of people during last 100 days once again exhibited that despite Indian oppression and suppression they will not surrender their demands. You put them in jails, you killed them, you did whatever you liked but people showed utter steadfastness. This is what I call moral victory of people.”
Reiterating that Hurriyat will support any serious measure aimed at resolving Kashmir dispute, he said: “Recently an all-party delegation cam to Kashmir. Surprisingly we got an invitation from Mehbooba Mufti who had jailed me, Geelani sahib and Yasin sahib. It was a joke. We should have been released ahead of the delegation so that we could meet and do some essential consultations. But instead they (govt) used oppressive measures to silent our voice.”
“I want to reiterate that Hurriyat Conference will definitely support any serious measure aimed at resolving the dispute but that should be serious by all means,” he added.
About the controversy surrounding holding of exams, he said: “On one hand they are arresting the students and on the other they are out to blackmail the education. The (government) is doing politics on education of the children. We are clearly demanding to postpone exams for some months so that students can get some time for preparations and they should start releasing the jailed students in the meantime. But they are on an arrest spree instead of releasing the old ones. On the other hand they are making hue and cry on exams clearly politicizing the issue.”
“Everybody here wants that students should go to schools but don’t you see the heavy deployments on roads, don’t u see the arrest spree of young students and slapping of PSA on them, don’t you see the occupation of educational institutions at the hands of forces, don’t you see the large number of injured students. Even students are very serious about their academics but how can they sit in exams in the current situation. In fact the (government) is playing with the emotions by using education.”
Responding to a question whether the pellets victims should be compensated at government level, he said: “To punish those who injured people is more important than to compensate the injured. Mere compensations make a situation like you kill people, injure them or blind them, what then, you will compensate at the end and that is it.”
“Punishing those who are involved in killings and injuring people make an atmosphere of accountability. We stress for a commission to probe in to the killings and blinding of youth during last three months. Ok some are talking of Azadi, some of self rule and some of autonomy, we feel that oppression should stop on priority. It is the responsibility of the chief minister to safeguard the people and if she feels helplessness, she should step down.”
“We strongly demand that killings should be stopped, arrests should not happen, those arrested should be freed and those who are responsible in killings and injuring people should be punished.”
Stating that J&K government should categorically tell New Delhi to stop the oppression and suppression in whatever form or tell them that they are not with them. “But fact of the matter is the state government is in hand-in-glove with them. Delhi should understand that there is no military solution to the problem. Modi should understand that even his predecessor, AB Vajpayee finally agreed to resolve the issue politically. Modi should review his present policy and take concrete steps as Vajpayee did.”
Lashing out at the Indian civil society, he said it should stop issuing “fatwas” in TV studios. “They should come and see the ground realities. Whenever a Kashmiri is killed they say atankawadi is killed. Tell me why Baghat Singh is a martyr for them even he had killed a police officer? How our children who are also on way to achieve freedom are terrorists? The civil society should see through the prism of humanity.”
“We wish Indian civil society to come here and see the situation by them. We have created Hurriyat only to find peaceful means to settle the issue. We are for dialogue but see the same Huriyat is being isolated by terming us terrorists. We are treated as if we are thieves.”
