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| Delhi blast silences champions of competitive separatism in Valley | | Omar stops Tweeting for Guru; Mirwaiz arrives in Europe; Mehbooba worried over Srinagar | | Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
srinagar, Sept 9: Politicians of all hues in Kashmir valley---mainstream as well separatist---have dramatically stopped their rhetoric over clemency to Afzal Guru after death of 13 persons in a bomb blast outside Delhi High Court premises on Wednesday. In the changing scenario, nobody seems to be concerned about the fate of a resolution floated by an independent MLA in Legislative Assembly.
Until yesterday, Kashmiri politicians seemed to be jostling against one another in stealing credit of saving the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru from the gallows. A resolution in Tamil Nadu Assembly, seeking mercy for Rajiv Gandhi's killers, led to histrionics by champions of competitive separatism in Srinagar. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took lead over his competitors in both camps with his trademark Tweets on Guru. Perhaps more dramatic was the pat he got from his jingoistic father Farooq Abdullah, now a Minister in the UPA government at the Centre.
While the opposition PDP was still weighing the options, independent MLA from Langet, Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rashid scrambled to Assembly with his resolution seeking commuting of Guru's capital punishment. The young man in the hot seat must have heaved a sigh of relief that a non-PDP MLA was snatching the initiative from Mehbooba Mufti. Some of the politicians, in frustration, went to the extent of viewing Rashid as NC's Trojan horse. PDP's spokesperson Naeem Akhtar was left with no option but to surrender with his declaration that his party would vote for the resolution.
The mainstream politicians in the competition outsmarted even the wittiest in the separatist camp---Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq included. They invariably had a strong point in defence: Guru's execution would lead to a fresh era of outrage and alienation in Valley. They communicated to Delhi without words that Guru would become a martyr, far more dangerous than Maqbool Bhat, and thus bring a fresh lease of life to secessionism in Srinagar.
Until Wednesday morning, NC and PDP appeared to be pulling up their socks to beat each other over Guru in the forthcoming session of Legislature in Srinagar. Congress and BJP, for obvious reasons, would have opposed the resolution, perhaps leading to first fissures in the coalition.
Body bags in Delhi brought shockwaves alike to the Valley's mainstream and separatist politicians. Within minutes, unqualified condemnations began pouring in from one and all. Those of Mirwaiz and Geelani sounded more powerful than Omar Abdullah's and Mehbooba Mufti's. Farooq Abdullah was, in fact, late by two days. Caution among the separatists was palpable as none of them attempted to point fingers towards Naxalites and "Hindutva terrorism". Their condemnations in the past had, invariably, spoken of "many insurgencies in India".
Mirwaiz has, in fact, left for his European tour and reportedly arrived in Geneva. Geelani has been complaining against his "continued house arrest" despite dozens of his visits and speeches in Sopore and Baramulla. One-odd reference to Guru from the separatists came from Pulwama today where JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik warned that the execution could tear India into pieces.
Rhetoric in the mainstream camp has also screeched to a halt. Everybody from Engineer Rashid to Mehbooba Mufti has adopted discreet silence. They are yet to practice adventure of condemning the "arrest of innocent people in Kishtwar" or, for that matter, detention of a Kashmiri passenger on his arrival from Delhi at Srinagar Airport. The explosion has dramatically benumbed our mainstream e-Jihadis whose Tweets for clemency to Guru have suddenly gone blank.
Notably, PDP's statement on Friday focused on Ms Mufti's concern for (poor development in) Srinagar, even as she taunted NC with incompetence and asserted that a party which, according to her, failed to protect its own activists, could never save Guru. |
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