Post abrogation of Art 370, Hurriyat unable to regain feet
Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, February 8
Post the scrapping of the special status of J&K on August 5 last year, the separatists are staring at a dark future as the Centre has throttled them politically to ensure their irrelevance on the political landscape of the the new Union Territory.
The future of the Hurriyat Conference — a conglomerate that has been spearheading the separatist movement for the past nearly three decades — seems utterly bleak.
This happened largely due to the crackdown on the separatists before the abrogation of Article 370. Six months after the August 5 decision, the separatist rank and file seem unable to reorganise. However, it is difficult to assume that the prevailing state of affairs would render the separatist leaders to the backburner completely.
“The Hurriyat Conference acted as a postal address for the separatist movement in Kashmir. At present that address has vanished but whether it would evaporate the separatist sentiment would be foolish to assume,” said a keen Kashmir watcher.
He said the current state was a consequence of unprecedented curbs and suppression on the separatist rank and file.
“The Union government began the operation to scrap Article 370 around two years ago. First, the separatist leaders were rounded up by the National Investigation Agency in terror-funding cases. Then the Jamaat-e-Islami and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front were banned,” he said.
There is a common impression that the Hurriyat Conference failed to lead the people after the Centre’s major political move. Hurriyat Conference leaders over the years had warned of serious repercussions if the Article 35-A was touched. But when New Delhi scrapped the Article 370, they maintained silence and the people are intrigued at their stillness. Such has been the Hurriyat’s silence that they hardly issued any statement on the issue and gave no protest calendar against the scrapping.
After 2016, Hurriyat hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, moderate Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chairman Yasin Malik came together and formed a conglomerate, “joint resistance leadership (JRL)”, which had been leading the “pro-independence” movement. While Malik is languishing in jail, Geelani and Mirwaiz are under house arrest.
Mirwaiz has issued two statements and both denied reports that he had signed a bond pledging to remain quiet to avoid detention in jail.
A top separatist leader and a close aide of Geelani was also surprised at the JRL’s silence. “I also want to know why there has been so much silence,” a separatist leader, who was under house detention, told The Tribune three months after the abrogation of Article 370.
However, a common perspective in Kashmir is that the JRL leadership has avoided issuing protest calendar as the Narendra Modi-led government has made its policy clear on Kashmir that those who speak against the country would have to pay a high price. This is amply clear as three former Chief Ministers — Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — remain in detention.
“The Hurriyat’s future is utterly bleak as it has failed in the new situation. Geelani is ailing and his political carrier is almost over. There is every possibility that a new leadership will emerge,” said a political commentator, who has been watching separatists’ development closely. “I also think the separatist leadership may possibly go directly into the hands of the underground leadership, who in the absence of a credible Hurriyat may call the shots,” he said.
Despite Hurriyat throttled, the separatist sentiment is not gone. And, it was visible as Kashmir observed a shutdown for over three months without a call from any separatist after the abrogation of Article 370.
