[Reader-list] The 'secular' Freedom Movement of Kashmir

Mon Aug 18 19:28:32 IST 2008

Dear Shivam

Did you feel compelled to speak? Even if it was for the sake of making a meaningless comment?

Think before you write. Think about what you have written and ask yoiurself why you wrote it. Feel foolish if you have that grace.

Kshmendra

--- On Mon, 8/18/08, Shivam Vij शिवम् <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:

From: Shivam Vij शिवम् <mail at shivamvij.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The 'secular' Freedom Movement of Kashmir
To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com
Cc: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Monday, August 18, 2008, 7:22 PM

Dear Kshmendra,

The opposite of secular is not 'communal'. The opposite of secular is religious. 

best
shivam

On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 7:19 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

Excerpts from the News Report in Daily Excelsior of 17th Aug 2008 (dedicated weblink available only after archiving):

- Geelani said that the Kashmiris had launched a movement of 'Azadi Bara-e-Islam' (freedom for Islam)

- streams of participants today shouted maximum of pro-Pakistan and Islamic slogans like "Pakistan se rishta kya, la illaha illalla", "Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan", "Yehan kya chalega: Nizaam-e-Mustafa" besides the familiar "Ham kya chahte: Azadi".

Kshmendra

FULL NEWS REPORT BELOW

Geelani asks pro-India leaders to resign or face 'social boycott'

*At massive rally in Pampore, Hurriyat chief calls it 'freedom for Islam'

>From Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Aug 16: With the authorities losing control of the situation fast and a fresh phase of turbulence attaining all the trappings of a religious separatist movement, heads of both factions of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, have asked Kashmir's pro-India politicians to immediately resign or else face 'social boycott'. Geelani has called this avatar of the separatist movement as "freedom for Islam" and warned Jammu & Kashmir Police to immediately "stop your shameful atrocities on the (Kashmiri) nation or face the social boycott".

While addressing a massive condolence meeting over the death of People's League chairman Sheikh Abdul Aziz and over 20 others in different incidents of firing earlier this week, at Pampore today, Geelani said that the Kashmiris had launched a movement of 'Azadi Bara-e-Islam' (freedom for Islam), which, according to him, would be carried to its logical conclusion. He said that today's mammoth rally would bring it home to all and sundry that the Kashmiris' "freedom struggle" would continue unfazed inspite of "economic blockade and all other impediments".

While local cable television channels reported that six lakh people participated in today's rally and the official figures vacillated between thirty and fifty thousand, independent watchers believe that over one Lakh Kashmiris, drawn from different parts of the Valley, participated in the remembrance meeting and listened to the senior separatist leaders.
With a contrast to the dominance of pro-freedom slogans and flags in the last 15 years, streams of participants today shouted maximum of pro-Pakistan and Islamic slogans like "Pakistan se rishta kya, la illaha illalla", "Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan", "Yehan kya chalega: Nizaam-e-Mustafa" besides the familiar "Ham kya chahte: Azadi".

While there were no flags of groups like Yasin Malik's JKLF and Sajjad Gani Lone's People's Conference, which are dominated by red, white and blue colours, men in the rally today carried green colour flags emblazoned with "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is Great). Many of the participants also traveled to Pampore with black flags atop their vehicles, signifying mourning over the death of Sheikh Abdul Aziz and over 20 others killed in different incidents of firing in the last few days.

Director General of Police, Kuldeep Khoda, had announced overnight that Police or armed forces would not obstruct the rally if it passed off peacefully. His statement came hours after a green signal from another senior Police official who even said on local television channels that Sheikh Abdul Aziz's "sacrifice" would augur well for restoration of peace in the State.

In his fiery speech, a visibly emboldened Geelani asked all leaders of the pro-India parties in J&K, including Members of Parliament, Ministers and others holding any positions in the Government, to immediately resign. "We'll be otherwise forced to call for social boycott against them", Geelani said. He also shot a warning to J&K Police to "stop your shameful atrocities on the Kashmiri nation, or else face social boycott". Mirwaiz too advised the mainstream politicians to quit and join the "freedom struggle". He too said that the pro-India leaders would have to face "social boycott" if they failed to respond to the call. "There are unimaginable consequences for them ahead and that day is not far away", Mirwaiz warned.

Geelani advised his audiences against attacking armed forces "so that they don't get an excuse to open fire". While taking an oral oath from the audiences, Geelani asserted that only a peaceful agitation would lead in the "desired direction". He claimed that intelligence agencies had cultivated as many as 44,000 agents, whose task, according to him, was to "sabotage our freedom movement and change its course with chaos and confusion". He said that "these paid agents" had a many times in the past succeeded in "changing the course of our freedom struggle in favour of India".

"This time around, however, it will be brought home to India that it has no room in Kashmir", Geelani said and described Pakistan as the "benefactor of the Kashmiri nation". He asked the Kashmiris to pursue the "one-point agenda of freedom for Islam". He, nevertheless, sought to assert that the Kashmiris' war was strictly against the Government of India and her policies towards Kashmir and not against the people of the country.

Mirwaiz reiterated his fresh set of demands and asked New Delhi to withdraw armed forces from J&K, revoke Armed Forces Special Powers Act, release all political detenues from the State and throw Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road open for "free trade and travel". In a significant development, Mirwaiz, who was otherwise perceived to be lukewarm to Geelani's call of election boycott until yesterday, emphasized on "total boycott" to any elections to be held by India in Jammu & Kashmir. Speaking little about SASB land controversy and "economic blockade of Kashmiris", Mirwaiz asserted that the day of winning freedom from India was not far away.

On this occasion, JKLF chairman, Yasin Malik, too advised the Kashmiris against taking any step that could weaken "our freedom movement". He said that "sacrifices laid by Sheikh Aziz and others would not go waste as nobody would be allowed to exploit the same for vested interest". He said that the Kashmiris had invested their life and assets in the "freedom struggle" and it was now "time to harvest".

Sheikh Aziz's s seniormost colleague in Peoples League, Shabir Ahmed Shah, stressed on the need of also opening Mughal Road which, he said, would join the people of Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu with Kashmir valley. He asked the people not to attack any mediaperson and expressed his shock over the fact that a number of newspersons and camera crews had been attacked by unruly crowds in the last few days.

Shah implored his audiences to respond to the call of Hurriyat Coordination Committee and make all of its programmes a big success. Sheikh's longtime colleague, Nayeem Khan, and a number of other separatist leaders were also present. Mirwaiz disclosed that Hurriyat would hold an important meeting on Sunday to chalk out "further course of action" and asked his supporters to similarly gather for Hurriyat's "UN Chalo" programme on Monday next.

While militants have significantly silenced their guns since last fortnight, thousands of people in the rallies, leading to Pampore today, chose to maintain peace inspite of shouting hardcore pro-Pakistan slogans. They raised the pitch of their "Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan" when cavalcades of a senior CRPF officer and a Brigadier passed by but did not resort to stone pelting. Armed escorts observed restraint and wended their way towards a military formation.

Army's and State Government's helicopters maintained surveillance over the rally and captured its movement in video cameras, occasionally flying very low. Sources said that two senior officials of the state government were among those who watched the rally's passage for several hours and reported it to Governor. Small groups of youth, carrying Islamic and black flags on their motorcycles and vehicles and shouting pro-Pakistan slogans, made repeated rounds in the so-called safe zones in Srinagar as if to establish that it was a liberated town. Police and CRPF watched them mutely for the day.

In minutes of the separatist leaders' threats to mainstream politicians, hundreds of people launched an attack on the guarded house of the prominent counter-insurgent, Ghulam Mohammad Lone alias Papa Kishtwari, who has been in jail after contesting and losing several elections, at Pampore and razed it to rubble brick-by-brick. They also set a condemned vehicle on the premises on fire. Eyewitnesses said that an armed platoon of J&K Police, which had been guarding Kishtwari's house since 1995, cleared out and took refuge in the Police Station.

Before the separatists' rally returned, an old time colleague of Mirwaiz Umar, namely Mohammad Yaqoob Vakil, reportedly announced his resignation in Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party (PDP). Reports said that he was returning to the Hurriyat. Earlier this year, PDP had celebrated Vakil's entry as "a remarkable achievement" for the party. After the current phase of the separatist movement has crippled the J&K Police, a number of mainstream political activists, as also the families of Police and civil officials, known for strengthening the Indian system in Kashmir, have reportedly migrated to safer places.

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