Moderates, Hardliners share dais at Hurriyat seminar in Srinagar
Sharing the dais after a long time, moderate and hardline separatist leaders of Kashmir today said “collective resistance” was the “only option left” for the people of Kashmir to “stop the onslaught” of the BJP and the RSS.
This was the “bottom line” of almost every speech made today at a daylong seminar on “Resolution of Kashmir Issue — Prelude to Peace, Guarantee to Stability” organised by the Hurriyat faction headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Hardliner Syed Ali Geelani had also dispatched his representative and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Mehrajuddin Klawal for participation with a message to further underline the unity between separatist ranks.
Both Mirwaiz and Geelani could not participate as they have been put under house detention by the authorities.
“It is after a long time that all of us are here. It is a matter of satisfaction and pride,” Kalwal said at the seminar which began at the Rajbagh Office of the Hurriyat.
“I want to reiterate that the point of unity between Mirwaiz, Yasin Malik and Geelani Sahib is the collective demand for the right to self-determination. This is the only reason that the leadership is together today and it is hoped that new options other than right to self-determination won’t be put forward like it was done in the past”, said Kalwal.
Speaking after Kalwal, JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik termed the current situation in Kashmir “grim like it was in 1995”, when the state had adopted a tough approach against the separatists, pro-freedom activists and intellectuals in the Valley.
“Since the time they (BJP/RSS) have come into power, they are threatening and intimidating us and raising controversies. This is fascism. So in this scenario, there is no way other than collective resistance as fascism cannot listen to logic and engage in dialogue,” Malik said while referring to the tough attitude adopted by the BJP government and the RSS towards the secessionists of Kashmir.
Malik termed the unity of separatists as a “divine intervention”, saying the “current onslaught has to be resisted by people by standing united.” “Let us erase these moderate and hardline images. Let us resist together and then only the state of India will change its stance,” Malik said, adding that “separatist leaders will stay relevant as long as the movement stays relevant.” In his short but crisp presidential address, senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Bhat, emphasised “unity of thought.” “I agree with Yasin Malik that we should not be sluggish. But there should be a unity of thought,” Bhat said.
“Oneness in deed is the call of time. That should be the prime objective, otherwise at the end we shall be eventually drawing further lines,” he said while appealing to the Government of India to seize the movement by solving the Kashmir dispute and ushering peace and prosperity into the region.
He said there was minimal chance of a full-scale war between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states, but he described the “permanent state of war” between the two neighbours more dangerous than a nuclear conflict.
Since the All Parties Hurriyat Conference split into two factions in 2003, it is for the first time that a leader from the Geelani faction has attended a seminar or function at Rajbagh Hurriyat headquarters, where Mirwaiz has his office.
