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| But people of Kashmir are already a divided lot | | Geelani's False Accusation | | Rustam
JAMMU, Aug 9: Tehrik-e-Hurriyat chief and Pakistani agent Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who, like many other Kashmiri fanatics, is responsible for large scale deaths and destruction and forcible exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley, yesterday levelled a false charge against New Delhi by saying that it is dividing Kashmiris to sabotage the ongoing secessionist movement in the Valley. Talking to reporters, he said, "Their intention is to mar the ongoing movement. The blueprint for the division of Kashmiri society is formulated in Delhi. They want us to fight with each other so that we forget our struggle. They actually want to continue their occupation under the dent of gun".
While making such a wild allegation, he conveniently forgot former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and present Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah who more than a decade ago had said in Asia Hotel, Jammu, that "Jammu, like Kashmir, is also heterogeneous". He did not say "Kashmir, like Jammu, is also heterogeneous". Farooq Abdullah did not cross the line when he made that statement. He made a statement of fact. People of Kashmir are indeed a divided lot. They are not one like the Palestinians who are up against Israel. They are ethnically and culturally divided. They are even religiously divided.
The Kashmiri society consists of several religious and ethnic minorities, with Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis, who are ethnically Kashmiri, constituting almost 60 per cent of the Kashmir's population. Besides, these Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis, who have been ruling the roost and seeking separation from India since October 1947 itself under one pretext or the other, there are Shiite Muslims; ethnically different Gujjar, Bakerwal and Pathowari-speaking Muslims; ethnically different Darad and Balti Muslims; Pathan Muslims; Punjabi Muslims; Kashmiri Hindus (bulk of whom quit the Valley in early 1990 to save their religion, culture honour and life); Sikhs; a few Christians.
The aspirations of these religious and ethnic minorities are different from those of the Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis. Leave aside a few disgruntled elements here and there. The Shiite Muslims have no love lost for the Sunnis because the Punjabi Sunni-dominated establishment in Pakistan has been consistently persecuting their brethren in Gilgit-Baltistan, as also because the Sunni-dominated religious outfits in Pakistan have been consistently targeting the Shiite Muslims. They say the Shiite Muslims, like the Ahmedias, are not Muslims in the real sense of the term. As for Gujjar, Bakerwal and Pathowari-speaking Muslims, who call themselves Paharis, notwithstanding the fact that there exists no such ethnic group as Pahari anywhere in the world, they have seeking empowerment under the Indian Constitution. The Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims have already got the ST status. They are now fighting for political reservation. The Pathowari-speaking Muslims are struggling for both saying they also belong to a different ethnic stock and that their problems and the problems of the Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims are the same. The attitude of the neglected Dards and Baltis is no different. Similarly, the attitude of most of the Sikhs in the Valley is hostile towards those who have been seeking separation from India on the ground of religion. Their number is approximately 60, 000. Significantly, even the Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis are a divided lot. The recent developments, including the burning down of some religious places in different parts of Kashmir, clearly establish that there exists a various conflict among them. As far as the displaced Kashmiri Hindus are concerned, they have been demanding bifurcation of the Valley so that a separate homeland under the Indian Constitution is set up for them. They want free flow of Indian Constitution in the proposed separate homeland.
Geelani says that New Delhi is dividing Kashmiris. Will he also say that he is not making common cause with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Yasin Malik, Nayeem Khan and others of their ilk because New Delhi doesn't want it? He cannot say so because he knows in his heart of hearts that what he has said is a negation of the STARK REALITY as it exists in Kashmir. Even the APHC (M), which consists of several outfits, has not been able to create a feeling that it is united. |
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