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| Geelani’s must retire before he is totally marginalised | | | Jasbir Sarai | 6/13/2011 9:02:08 PM |
| "With the help of Allah and on behalf of the 90 percent Muslim majority of the Valley, I assure you that your temples, lives, property and honour would be protected by us as you return to your original homes here," These words spoken to some Kashmiri Pundits by none other than the biggest hawk of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani during an unprecedented meeting with members of the displaced community , at Vessu, Kulgam, Mattan and Anantnag in mid April this year has left Kashmir watchers and analysts stumped for a moment. "We have lived together in better and worse times in the past and we must continue to live alongside each other whatever the situation in the future," he added for good measure. Of course he could not resist pinning the blame of the divide on the Indian government and insisting that it continues to playing the same divide and rule policy even today. Not to be taken in so easily the Kashmiri Pundit community slammed the statements and called them a ‘cheap political stunt” in view of the fact that Geelani has, for many decades, ignored those Kashmiri Pundits who refused to leave their homeland and are still living over there. The statement was followed by thinly veiled threats to the same community in newspapers that owe allegiance to the separatist cause to desist from throwing slippers at him in seminars held outside Kashmir, if they wish to carry the reconciliation process further. It was implied that Geelani is still the tallest leader in Kashmir and antagonising him would not help the cause of the Kashmiri Pundits. This puts a lid on his rather strange move to woo the very community which he has wiped out from his memory a long time back.
More recently Geelani has released a pamphlet on Facebook called “Qaid-e-Inqilab: Syed Ali Geelani”, in which he has related his version of the Kashmir cause to the tourists and pilgrims visiting the Kashmir Valley. Hard copies of the pamphlet are freely available in the Valley and also in the Hurriyat office in Hyderpura, Srinagar. The pamphlet contains his oft repeated litany of woes - Kashmir is not a part of India; Kashmir is an international dispute; government and security forces are heaping atrocities on innocent Kashmiri people etc. No mention is made of the Kashmiri Pundit community or any other minority community of Kashmir for that matter.
His next move was to declare that the Hurriyat faction will not go for prolonged strikes this year. However, old habits die hard, and he could not resist putting a rider that the onus of a trouble-free year was on the government. “Hurriyat will never call for strikes unnecessarily. The government is creating an impression of unrest in summer to wreck the Valley’s tourist season and to hit our economy,” Geelani said. “If innocent people are killed, harassment and arbitrary detentions continue, there would be a natural reaction,” he added. It seems that he has lost his patience soon enough because he called for the first strike of the season on June, 11. In the absence of a logical reason to carry out this disruption, he has taken out some skeletons from the closet and said that the since the day marks the death anniversary of the Kashmiri youth, Tufail Matto, who died in a Stone pelters-Police clash last year, the strike would be dedicated to the memory of all those who were killed in the turmoil of 2011. What is being conveniently forgotten is that the turmoil was engineered by Geelani and his associates. The strike has not elicited much response and Geelani has been arrested for his misdeeds.
What Geelani is doing these days is a classic case of doublespeak, he has painted himself and the Hurriyat as the modicum of reasonableness, shifted all responsibility from his own person and put it on the shoulder of the government. Now a situation can be easily created wherein the government/ security forces would be accused of having perpetrated some imaginary or engineered atrocity which will be reason enough for Geelani and his cohorts to ride a moral horse and create disruption and dissension.
Geelani has realised that not much could be achieved by creating mayhem through strikes, stone pelting and disruption in the last few years. The government remained unmoved and his brand of politics earned the ire of the common people. He is conscious of the adverse effect of this scenario on his already dwindling support base. Facebook users have been discussing the “faults” and ‘failures” of the pro-freedom leadership which, according to them, is not capable of leading them. Those who expected some positive yields of the bloody mayhem of 2010 have openly expressed frustration and disappointment. Syed Ali Geelani assumes centre stage in this criticism. “He is egoistic”, “he lacks wisdom and leadership qualities” is the opinion of many on the social site. This could possibly be the reason behind his decision to put the aforementioned pamphlet on Facebook.
What the octogenarian leader does not realise is that such cosmetic changes are not going to alter the situation. The reality is that no one in India or in the international community is ready to give credence to his line of thinking. Nobody, repeat nobody of substance supports Geelani’s cause outside his small following in Kashmir and the few exasperating mavericks who have, without invitation, adopted the cause of Kashmir. It is apparent that Geelani, at this age, cannot rise above his blinkered vision for Kashmir and he cannot face the reality that this vision is, since long, outdated. His political worth today is no more than nuisance value. It would be more decent for him to seek retirement from active politics before he is totally marginalised.
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