| Mainstream camp busy appeasing separatists, Pro Pakistan groups | | This time, it goes too far! | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 21: Kashmir's mainstream camp in unison is out in open, striving hard to appease the separatists and pro- Pakistan leaders in Valley and could be found busy in eulogising their efforts and contributions.
As parts of Srinagar witnessed restrictions being put in place to thwart the separatist march that was called by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik to commemorate the death anniversaries of Mirwaiz Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone, mainstream parties in Kashmir were seen issuing press statements to hail the slain Pro-Pakistan leaders in open.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee in its May 21 statement said it paid glowing tributes to Late Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Moulana Farooq and Abdul Gani lone on their death anniversaries and lauded their services and contributions to peace and harmony in the State.
The party described their assassination as a great loss to the State saying that they laid down their lives for peace and harmony. Among others who addressed the meeting included MLC Mohammad Muzaffar Parray, MLA Mohammad Amin Bhat, Spokesperson Farooq Andrabi and other senior leaders.
Mirwaiz Farooq, the father of the Huriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar was assassinated in 1990 with Huriyat calling for the valley wide shutdown to mark his anniversary every year. Mirwaiz Farooq, a staunch Pakistan supporter who advocated at the onset of militancy in Kashmir that the state must merge with the Pakistan was killed at his Nigeen residence on May 21, 1990.
The infighting between the two militant groups in Kashmir in 1990, as per the reports, led to Mirwaiz Farooq's assassination. Mirwaiz who had the militant outfit Al-Umar at its back was critical to the policies of another militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
The security agencies operating in valley during militancy's peak period maintained that it was the Hizb commander Abdullah Bangroo who was behind Mirwaiz Farooq's killing. Pertinently, both Mirwaiz Farooq and Abdullah Bangro are buried in same graveyard known popularly here as the 'Graveyard of Martyrs'.
Last year, it was National Conference that held the function in memory of late Mirwaiz at its party headquarters in Srinagar. The function witnessed the participation of several senior NC leaders who highlighted the efforts of Mirwaiz and Abdul Gani Lone.
"One wonders at such duplicity. On one hand, there are jibes and wild accusations beings launched against each other and now there is an appeasement politics in vogue. The mainstream politicians in Kashmir have to make their stand clear over on which side they are," says a journalist working for a New Delhi based news organisation. |
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