SP Sharma
The hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani might have got an opportunity to again flex his muscles in Kashmir following three breakaway separatists rejoining him apparently under the game-plan of certain Pakistani agencies, but the fact remains that the footing of separatists in the PoK has over the passage of time been reduced to that of being puppets of the Pakistani regime.
The people in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) facing cruelty at the hands of ISI and Pakistani army had looked upon the separatists with great expectations when in March 1993 they formed the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to protect the rights of Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC). However, most people in the PoK reportedly soon got disillusioned as the separatists ignored their plight and allegedly started parroting what was tutored to them against India by their mentors in Pakistan.
Geelani remained isolated when the then Pakistan President General Parvez Musharraf sidelined him and started backing the Hurriyat faction led by Umar Farooq. However, the separatists got a boost during the regime of Atal Behari Vajpayee when they were put at the centre-stage by holding negotiations with them. The Congress led UPA that followed initially pursued the policy of Vajpayee.
But the Prime Minister Narendera Modi immediately after taking over the reins of the government discontinued the earlier policy of appeasement of separatists and started completely ignoring them by dropping hints that they were not a party to the Kashmir issue.
The APHC that had in March 1993 emerged as a forceful platform for 26 social, religious and
pro-Pakistan parties started weakening 10 years later in 2003 when it was rattled due to the first split with about a dozen constituents going their own way by replacing Maulana Abbas Ansari with a staunch pro-Pakistani Masarat Alam as their leader.
Then after a gap of a little over 10 years the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq again got split in 2014 when four senior leaders—Democratic Freedom Party president Shabir Ahmad Shah, National Front chairman Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Mahaz-e-Azadi chief Mohammad Azam Inqlabi and Islamic Political Party Mohommad Yousuf Naqash—raised a banner of revolt on the issue of the Mirwaiz writing a letter to convener in Pakistan occupied Kashmir Mohommad Yousuf Naseem and asking him not to entertain the leaders who have left the conglomerate on their own. Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan are among the three who again yesterday shook hands with Geelani.
The Pakistani regime had reportedly been for the past some time been trying to persuade the separatists to regroup under the leadership of Geelani who spits venom against India and their efforts were accelerated following breakdown of the last month’s national security adviser (NSA) level talks between the two countries when India did not allow the separatists to meet the Pakistani adviser Sartaj Aziz.
The separatists were kept in the loop on Kashmir issue first time in 2004 during the BJP led NDA regime when they were invited for talks with the then Deputy PM LK Advani and later also with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. After the Congress led UPA came to power, another round of talks was held in September 2005 with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In between, various separatist leaders were freely allowed to meet President Musharraf and other visiting Pakistani dignitaries without considering that letting such meetings happen amounted to direct interference of Pakistan in the internal matters of India.
Coming back to PoK, residents of the area have been complaining that their human rights have been trampled by the Pakistani security agencies and the Srinagar based APHC has failed to raise the issue against Pakistan.
Dr.Shabir Choudhary, director of the Institute of Kashmir Affairs, who has been hounded out of PoK for raising his voice against the atrocities on the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, in a recent presentation at the UN human rights in Geneva, stressed that “unfortunately on the Pakistani side of the divide there is hardly any system in place to promote and protect human rights abuses either committed by state actors, private militias or other groups with power and influence”. But “on the Indian side of the divide, there is a vibrant media, strong civil society, State Human Rights Commission, representatives of Indian human rights organisations and international human rights organisations, not to mention representatives of international media who highlight all forms of human rights abuses”, he pointed out.
Situation of people in Neelam valley and Gilgit Baltistan needs special attention. In absence of vibrant media, active civil society and human rights organisations, people of these areas are totally at the mercy of the secret agencies. Womenfolk of the Neelam valley sometime ago organized a strong protest against the secret services of Pakistan that have set up terrorist training camps in the area and have refused to take action against the militants who reportedly tried to molest local women.
Neelam valley in PoK is being used by the ISI and Pakistan army as a launching pad of trained terrorists into India but there is no one on that side to organize the depressed people. Most of those who raised their voice against Pakistan have either been eliminated, put behind bars or hounded out of their motherland.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
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