[Reader-list] Kashmir Struggle NOT Islamist - Says Mirwaiz

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear All,

This was in today's edition of the Indian Express. I thought it would  
be of interest to people on the list, not just because of the  
categorical rejection by the chairman of the Hurriyat Conference (M)  
of a communal and Islamist direction for the movement against the  
occupation in the Kashmir valley, but also, especially as some of the  
people on the list have been very exercised on the issue of the  
anonymous 'letters' sent to Sikhs and Sikh places of worship, which  
the Mirwaiz explicitly refers to here.

regards,

Shuddha
---------------------
Our struggle not Islamist, says Mirwaiz
Express News Service
Indian Express, August 22, 2010
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/our-struggle-not-islamist-says- 
mirwaiz/663459/

Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday lashed out at the  
forces “bent on branding the struggle in Kashmir as Islamist”. The  
letters urging Sikhs to embrace Islam, he said, was a part of this  
gameplan.

“We think the indigenous nature of the ongoing uprising has unnerved  
some forces to start conspiring against the movement,” Mirwaiz told  
The Sunday Express. “Otherwise how can a few anonymous letters  
delivered to a few Sikh households be treated as the voice of the  
Valley’s majority population.”

He alleged the letters were the handiwork of intelligence agencies.  
“This is part of the deliberate strategy to float the letters and  
blow the news story about them in a section of media,” Mirwaiz said,  
adding that when it came to reporting on the ongoing unrest, media  
was generally not so enthusiastic. “This place has lost 60 people in  
two months and there is no sense of outrage”.

Mirwaiz said Sikhs are an inalienable part of the valley’s cultural  
fabric and assured them of safety. “The community has lived with the  
majority community through thick and thin. And together we will brave  
the trials and tribulations in future,” he said.

The Hurriyat leader said Kashmir’s movement is not Islamist.  
“Kashmir’s struggle is not about Muslim versus Hindu or Muslim  
Kashmir versus Hindu India,’ Mirwaiz said. “But some forces are  
trying to give a communal colour to the freedom movement. I urge  
Hindus,Sikhs and other minority community members to not pay  
attention to such letters or warnings.”

Meanwhile, the J&K has denied reports that Sikhs have been harassed.  
A government spokesman said such reports were meant to malign the  
secular image of Kashmiris. Pointing out that just the other day a  
group of people had performed the last rites of a person from another  
community, he said all communities were living amicably in the Valley.

The ugly isolated incident occurred at Tral in Pulwama district  
around three weeks ago, and it was unanimously condemned, the  
spokesman said, adding CM Omar Abdullah has assured Sikhs that steps  
would be taken to strengthen mutual ties between all the communities  
living in the Valley.


Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net