After an ostensible failure of yet another spell of “resistance movement” which overrode the Valley in the shape of a bloody civil unrest in summer 2010, the Kashmiri separatist leadership appears to be in a mood of retrospection and insiders say, even open to reconciliation provided its reposition on issues finds appreciation from the concerned quarters and is reciprocated in the kind as well.
Over the past couple of weeks, key separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, have publicly not only departed from the hardnosed viewpoints on various issues upheld by them during the unrest but also hinted at squaring off. On the eve of the anniversary of the UNSC’s adopting a crucial resolution on January 5, 1949 which sought to refer the issue of Kashmir to its people, the Mirwaiz pushed for looking beyond the world body and urged India and Pakistan to workout an amicable and lasting solution to the Kashmir problem themselves.
He even characterised the UN as a “failure” which is seen by local watchers as a significant shift in the stance pursued by the cleric and politician previously.
Prof. Abdul Gani Butt, another important leader of their faction of the Hurriyat Conference, went a step further by openly admitting to militants’ having silenced the voices of dissent in the past by training their guns at the Valley’s intellectuals and also having murdered the Mirwaiz’s father Moulvi Muhammad Farooq and another important moderate separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone. His statement is being seen by many here not only as declaration of guilt but also a deliberate move to nip in the bud any possible ferocious intercession by militants in the event of the political leadership’s opting for holding peace talks with New Delhi.
Several second-rung leaders of the conglomerate faction are also publicly seeking a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir issue; thereby building up public opinion in favour of dialogue.
Even supposed hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani does not seem to be averse to understanding. Some Kashmir watchers even find him a changed man who lately avoids talking harsh on issues in public. The transformation is attributed to the tremendous pressure the octogenarian leader is reported to be facing within his faction of the Hurriyat Conference. His elder son Syed Naeem Geelani, a medical practitioner who returned from Pakistan recently, is reported to be playing a crucial role in revising the mindset of key players within the conglomerate faction, including his father.
The junior Geelani fled the Valley and took refuge in the neighbouring country following a serious threat was posed to his life during inter-group clashes back home in mid 1990s. His return to the Valley is shrouded with mystery. Whether he returned on his Indian passport which was reportedly not got renewed after he relocated to Pakistan several years ago or was given a conditional passage by the Indian government is not clear yet has led to raising eyebrows with the separatists’ camp. But he is perceived to be “temperate” and “accommodating” on the basis of the telephonic conversations he has had with his father and some of his colleagues over the years and were overheard by various intelligence agencies.