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| Now, Mirwaiz goes soft on bête-noire Geelani | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 4: Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who last year rebuked his archrival Syed Ali Geelani, asking "who the hell is Geelani", seems to have softened his stand towards the firebrand leader.
On July 3, in a visible shift in his stand, Mirwaiz hit out at the state government for restricting movement of the aged Geelani, calling it "worst form of state terrorism."
Addressing the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid here, Mirwaiz said that preventing Geelani from offering prayers in the holy month of Ramadan is highly condemnable.
"He has not been allowed to move out of his residence for the past several months. This is height of state terrorism and we strongly condemn it," Mirwaiz said. "This reflects the tyrannical attitude of the government."
Mirwaiz said the government should immediately lift curbs on Geelani and allow him to move freely.
It was just last year when Mirwaiz hogged the headlines by abusing Geelani at a presser. On April 19, 2014, Mirwaiz had targeted Geelani, accusing him of trying to create vicious environment in Kashmir to mislead the people.
Mirwaiz was reacting to Geelani's remarks that BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's emissaries were in league with the separatist leadership. "We are not in league with Indian establishment. Who the hell is Geelani to accuse the people who have inherited legacy of Kashmir movement by nourishing it with their blood? The struggle for Kashmir's freedom is a people's movement and nobody is its Godfather. He (Geelani) has participated in elections under Indian constitution 12 times. He has no copyright over the Kashmir movement," Mirwaiz had said.
He had also lashed out at what he said "holier than thou behaviour of Geelani". "He always tried to prove himself right and others wrong. Who is compromising on what? We have been doing all in open whether we talked to Pakistan or India," he said.
The bitterness between Mirwaiz and Geelani did not end there. Just recently when ISIS flags were waved at Mirwaiz-led rallies in Srinagar, Geelani was among the first to condemn it. Mirwaiz remained silent, though.
In May this year the Mirwaiz-led faction of Hurriyat received a major setback when ahead of his father's death anniversary, many of his party cadres joined Geelani's Hurriyat.
Last month, the Mirwaiz Hurriyat suffered another major jolt when one of its executive members Agha Hassan Budgami quit the amalgam and ended up holding a meeting with Geelani. Budgami claimed that a long-term strategy is missing in the conglomerate.
In May 2015, Sheikh Yaqoob, another leader of Hurriyat (M), had said that the conglomerate failed to represent the aspirations of oppressed Kashmiris.
Before Yaqoob, as many as nine separatist organizations separated from the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat to join Geelani's faction. They included J&K Peoples Movement (JKPM), J&K Freedom Front (JKFF), Tehreek-e-Mazahamat (TeM), J&K Islamic Political Party (IPP), Gujjar-Pahari Forum (GPF), Muslim Khawateen Markaz (MKM), and Pairvan-e-Villayat (PeV).
As already reported by Early Times, Pakistan seems to be making Geelani-led Hurriyat stronger and its rival, the Mirwaiz Hurriyat, weaker. |
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