[Reader-list] Kashmir’s ethnic communities slam separatist leaders

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

*Kashmir’s ethnic communities slam separatist leaders

Reuters Asia - ANI

Link -
http://videopoint.reuters.com/Application.html#view=scriptview;id=180099;

New Delhi*

Activists from various ethnic and tribal communities of Indian Kashmir on
Saturday (October 23) slammed separatist leaders such as Syed Ali Shah
Geelani for the ongoing unrest in the disputed Himalayan region, which has
grown fiercer by the day.

Geelani, Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference,
addressing a seminar in New Delhi on Thursday (October 21), had called for a
boycott of the three-member team of interlocutors, appointed by New Delhi,
for dialogue with the people of Indian Kashmir.

Another seminar was conducted in New Delhi on Saturday, titled 'Voice of
Kashmir', where the activists slammed the separatist outfits and staged a
protest against the visit of Geelani to New Delhi.

"The kind of freedom that Jammu and Kashmir has, I do not think any other
state has that. The freedom they (separatist leaders) talk about is (sham
since) they do not have that kind of following. They do not represent even
one percent of Kashmir. They are people of just two-and-a half districts,
and they are demanding freedom. We are against it. Neither we are in support
of autonomy, nor freedom and nor self-rule. We just want to live with India
and would live with India," said Qamar Rabbani Chechi, who is a Kashmiri
'Gujjar', from the nomadic shepherd community.

"They (separatist leaders) are just enjoying their slogans of separatism and
freedom. They are doing all this by stepping upon the bodies of dead
innocents. So, whether they are our mainstream politicians or should we say,
pseudo politicians, they are doing all this by stepping on the bodies of the
innocent people. This is the unfortunate thing with Jammu and Kashmir that
neither we have got good mainstream politicians nor good separatist leaders.
So, that's why, the issue of Kashmir is growing fierce and we are not able
to solve it," added Darakhshan Andrabi, chief of the Socialistic Democratic
Party.

Hundreds of Kashmiri 'Pandits', or Hindus, were forced to flee the region
after a rebellion against New Delhi's rule broke out in the Muslim-majority
valley region of Kashmir two decades ago.

A separatist strike and security lockdown has dragged on for over four
months in Kashmir, where thousands have been killed since the insurgency
broke out in 1989.

Both India and Pakistan claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full but rule it in
part and have fought two wars over it since they won independence from
Britain in 1947.