With the separatists in doldrums, Pakistan has been divested of its political control in the Kashmir Valley, the resultant effect is quite visible from the desperate utterances of Prime Minister Imran Khan at home and in foreign shores. Fortunately, the international community is fully aware of the ground situation and is not paying any heed to his diatribe. It is time for him too to read the writing on the wall and divert his energy to issues more critical for his nation like the economy, internal security etc.
By Col. Jasbir Sarai
The moment the word “separatist” is used in India, it conjures the image of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and their colleagues of the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Kashmir, who subscribe to this ideology.
Use of the ideology of separatism as a political tool in Kashmir, however, goes as far back as 1931 when some Muslim pressure groups based in Lahore unleashed fierce propaganda against the ruling monarchy in Jammu and Kashmir with Maharaja Hari Singh at its helm. The propagandists found in Sheikh Abdullah an able conduit to further their activities. He was, at that stage, a budding revolutionary and leader of the Muslim Conference.
What is notable here is that while the whole of India was fighting to gain independence from the British yoke, Sheikh Abdullah and his ilk in Kashmir were fighting for “separation” from the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. As such, separation from India was definitely not an agenda for the people of the Kashmir Valley or its political leaders.
In fact, Sheikh Abdullah realised, all too soon, that the people of Jammu and Kashmir could not be made subservient to the Sunni Muslims since the state constituted of great political and cultural diversity with many other religions, cultures, dialects, etc. The secular bonds simply could not be broken. He, therefore, changed the name of his political organisation from the Muslim Conference to National Conference and opposed the idea of Pakistan.
It is notable that all through Pakistan sponsored tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir, the people of the region supported the Indian Army to repel the attack. In fact, the Kashmiri people were very anti-Pakistan because of the brutal atrocities that the invading hordes of Pakistani mercenaries heaped upon them.
Sheikh Abdullah, as chief minister of the state and with a brute majority in the state assembly started speaking about revocation of accession in 1953 a good six years after Jammu and Kashmir had been firmly embedded as an integral part of India. This was due to his personal ambition and not because of any demand from the people.
Sheikh Abdullah could not get what he wanted and he was arrested. His arrest did not cause much disruption in the state including the Kashmir Valley. This gave a clear indication of the people not being with him on the issue of secession from the Indian Union.
The current situation of separatism came by in 1987 due to the self-serving politics of the new and emerging leadership. It was limited only to the Kashmir Valley and followed the political model set by Sheikh Abdullah.
Thus, the “ideology of separatism” has always been the handiwork of a few local political players in their attempt to gain power and has always been used for playing dirty, self-serving politics at the local level in the Kashmir Valley.
The fatuousness of the current separatist ideology becomes apparent from the disparate demands that are made under its ambit. Some separatist leaders want freedom while others wish to align with Pakistan. None have a practical road map for running of the state under any of the said options. The entire ideology reeks of anarchism.
Separatists have dissected the people of Kashmir into small subgroups – Sufi versus Wahabi; Shia versus Sunni versus Pahari; urban versus rural – the number of groups existing now are too many to count.
Happily, most of the separatist leaders are now under the scrutiny of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for terror funding. Many like Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi, Shabir Shah, Masrat Alam have been arrested while others like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Syed Geelani are being questioned. These leaders have admitted to the formation of a Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) that illegally extorted funds from the people, especially the business community. The investigation process has received a boost in recent days by the arrest of one Zahoor Watali who is the kingpin for Hawala transactions of the separatists for foreign funding. Crucial electronic and documentary evidence is now available to establish the pattern of raising, collection, transfer, and use of funds for terrorist and separatist activities.