SEPARATISTS, WAKE UP!

A wake-up call for those who claim to represent Kashmir
Gowhar Nazir Shah
This refers to the recent by-elections held in three assembly segments of Kashmir valley and the lessons it carries for separatists.
Something has gone wrong somewhere and they need to put their heads together to find out. Plagued by fissures within and outside, the separatist politics has failed people during the last sixteen years or so. Except motivating rather forcing people to observe strikes on certain days, they have done nothing spectacular. Those who do nothing, as they say, do amazing things. “Jo Kuch Nahin Karte Voh Kamaal Karte Hain”?. And “doing nothing is the most difficult thing to do!” Separatist alliance All Parties Hurriyat Conference has failed people, miserably. Both factions of the amalgam are lost in the claims of their representative character. A faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has a claim that it represents the sentiments of Kashmiri people. It also boasts about the so-called purification process which it started after announcing his separation from Mirwaiz and his brigade. Mirwaiz Farooq has his claims too. Though it will take heads of both factions some more time to figure out and decide which one is the real Hurriyat, people have shown them what they can do to those who think can take them for granted. [b]In this backdrop, no way can one ignore the large queues of both men and women in the recently held by-elections in Rafiabad, Sangrama and Pattan assembly segments of Kashmir Valley that went for polls on April 24. People came out, and came out enthusiastically to cast votes. At certain polling booths females dominated queues. There was no coercion this time. Not a single complaint. Overall, official poll percentage in all the four assembly segments, including that of Bhaderwah constituency, stood at 59.Was it a vote for India and against popular uprising that erupted in 1989? Well, not necessarily. But it was, for certain, a wake up call for separatists who had been taking people’s will for granted. If one uses the right words and phrases, it is safe to write and conclude that the brisk polling in these by-elections was a “warning” for all separatists? `If you forget us, we too can and we will’.All “credit” goes to separatists and their “immature” politics. Now they will definitely fall short of words because words like “coercion” and “troop threat” are gone from their dictionaries. Like Hurriyat conglomerate, other separatist outfits like Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Jammu Kashmir Peoples Conference, Jammu Kashmir Muslim League, Jammu Kashmir Muslim Conference and the like have used almost all the letters of English alphabets describing who leads which faction. Hurriyat (G) (M), JKLF (Y) (J) (A), JKPC (S) (B), so on and so forth. The balloon of ‘boycott campaign and appeal’ held by Syed Ali Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah has already been deflated. And there seems to be no chance in sight to undo the damage. Instead of leveling accusations and blaming state government for not allowing them freely to go ahead with their anti-poll campaign, separatists should wake up they have taken refuge in, and take some time to do a little bit of introspection, a little bit of homework. Boycott of the boycott call can prove “food for thought”. Gowhar Nazir Shah Correspondent Deutsche Welle Voice of Germany - Urdu Service