"Tehreek-e-Taliban is harming Pakistan' - Hurriyat Conference (G) Chairman Peer Syed Ali Shah Geelani. = > Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference (G) - SYED ALI SHAH GEELANI in a wide-ranging interview with Kashmir Reader Correspondent AFZAL SOFI says that while internal trouble in Pakistan is compelling the country to soften its stand on Kashmir, boycotting elections remains the best policy for Kashmiris themselves How would you describe the present political situation in Kashmir? Very critical. India has deployed all possible means to divert the attention of the people from the real cause. It is using its resources to make people a prey of materialism, and wants people to forget about the freedom movement. It is using its means in a way that people think only about development, a prosperous life, and constructing buildings, flyovers and roads. India is employing different methods so that the voice against its occupation may not surface in Kashmir, and its oppression may not get noticed. India wants people to forget about everything they have faced during the last 20 years at the hands of its occupying forces... Slavery is death for nations at every step, as people are unable to understand the deceitful and perfidious maneuverings of the occupiers. For example, in Kashmir people cast their votes, but do not understand that India uses their election participation to tell the international community that there is no freedom movement in Kashmir, that people of Kashmir have faith in Indian democracy and are happy to be a part of India. They show the world that they are giving development, providing employment, and giving scholarships in Kashmir. But Kashmiris do not understand these tactics. They do not understandthat they are betraying the martyrs who have laid down their lives for the cause, that by castingvotes they support the people responsible for thebloodshed. They feel that voting does not have a negative impact on the Kashmir issue and their freedom movement. What is the Hurriyat doing to combat this challenge? The Hurriyat is not given space by the government to do its work. I am under continuous house arrest since 2010, and not evenallowed to offer Friday prayers. It is the same with other pro- freedom leaders who are not allowed to reach out to the people. Yasin Malik Sahib was not even allowed to distribute relief among earthquake victims in Doda. Shabir Shah Sahib is always arrested when going anywhere. Mirwaiz Umar Sahib is either put under house arrest or under restrictions. We are unable to meet the people to convince them, or apprise them of the real situation. We are able to give press statements only, and the media does not give due preference to that even. Through the media we can at least reach the educated section s, but unfortunately, the media does not cooperate with us. The internal situation in Pakistan is very bad. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (PTT) is harming Pakistan. Even if the Taliban in Afghanistan are fighting a legitimate battle against the Americanoccupation, but PTT is cutting the branch it is sitting on. We have always condemned their actions. Given their attacks on schools, funerals, Masjids, minority communities, children and women, it is clear that it is terrorism. Pakistan has suffered a lot because of this. Simultaneouslythere are freedom voices in Baluchistan, continuous drone attacks from the US, a bad relationship with Afghanistan, pressure from the US, the economic crisis .The Pakistani leadership thinks that friendship with India may bring some relief to in problems. Pakistan proposes to get electricity from India, and may ask for other things in future. Thus, it is unable to hold the policy it held in the past, or should hold now…. It is under some pressure from the US also to show some compromise. Some say that statements and seminars will not change anything. The leadership needs to do something innovative. How would you answer this criticism? We know that it is not sufficient, but through statements and seminars our voice at least reaches the educated section of the society, and the threats to the freedom movement come to their notice. Statements of pro-India parties that they also want a solution of Kashmir issue create confusion among the masses. Our statements at least dispel this confusion and make people understand that pro-India parties don’t want a solution which is a true return of our sacrifices. They are only in favor of the status quo. It is the responsibility of the leadership to make people aware of the strategies of the occupiers. People want the Hurriyat to chalk out different strategies to strengthen its roots – just as Masjids used to be the main platform for it. Why don’t youwork again on those lines? In an occupational system or in secular politics there is no primacy for moral values, honesty and truth. There is only treachery, perfidy and dirty tactics. In such a system, genuine demands are crushed by power. The occupiers don’t want genuine voices to reach the people and get there wrongs noticed. In such politics there is no respect for human values, no fear of God or of thehereafter. Gandhi also said that politics without religion is devil’s business. Politics these days - beit in Kashmir or in New Delhi -, is like devil’s business. Here, the establishment controls Masjids as well. People who deliver sermons in Masjids can’t speak about freedom or about the atrocities committed by India. They can’t urge themasses to stand against the Indian occupation and its atrocities. Despite this we are trying to reach the people. The Hurriyat is active at the block level and our members visit various places to address people in Masjids and wherever possible. People say that the leadership failed during the 2008 and 2010 agitations, and could not capitalize on the situation after the hanging of Mohammed Afzal Guru. How is it the failure of the leadership? In 2008 and 2010, lakhs of people came into the streets, but can anyone claim that India took notice. Those who say that we have failed do not see who we are fighting. Even when lakhs of people came out, still the Indian Prime Minister said that people participated in panchayat elections. He does not admit that large numbers of people alsocame out to demand freedom. India is drunk withpower. It does not take notice of the sacrifices offered by our youth. In 2010, 120 people were killed and over 3000 injured. There was curfew for at least for 100 days and strike for 117 days. I was put under house arrest for 141 days. India sent a parliamentary delegation to Kashmir which did a lot of talking. Did India take any notice of that? Did India take any notice of the recommendations of the three interlocutors it had itself sent? The same thing happened lakhs of people came into the streets demanding freedom during the Holy Relic movement. People should understand this. Reuniting the Hurriyat is widely being talked about. Even the UJC chairman Syed Salahuddin has asked you to unite. What do you think is the main hurdle? People should bear in mind that that resolving the Kashmir issue is not subservient to uniting the Hurriyat. If unification would have yield a solution, we were united for at least ten years. Did anything happen? A resolution is possible only when goals are defined and people are resolved. The Hurriyat is not divided because of personal differences. We believe that the issue will be resolved by giving Kashmiris the right of self-determination, by holding a referendum. We will not support the dialogue process unless India accepts that Kashmir is disputed territory. And when it does, the dialogue should be trilateral, and that too under the supervision of the UN or any other friendly third country. India has adopted a hardline approach on the Kashmir issue. On the one hand it claims it is ready for talks but on other it says that Kashmir is its integral part. What will be the result of talks in such a situation? So you demand trilateral talks. What if in the process India and Pakistan do not agree with the complete freedom of Kashmir? Will you accept anything less than Azadi? We will not accept anything less than Azadi. Since 1947, at least 6 lakh people have given their lives only for freedom from Indian occupation. Accepting any other solution would be betraying the blood of these sacrifices. If, according to you, India has a hardline approach, you too are labeled as a hardliner for not softening to the dialogue process? Showing softness will mean surrendering before India. We will never surrender. Whether there is a referendum or trilateral talks our goal will be no less than Azadi. Any solution within the constitution of India will not be accepted at all. Pakistan is said to be softening in its Kashmir policy. The newly elected government has said that it is committed to develop friendship with India. Both India and Pakistan seem to have put the K-issue on the backburner? After the Pakistan Muslim League came to power again following elections, I wrote a letter to Nawaz Sharief asking him not to put the Kashmir issue on the backburner. Recently, I told the Nawa-e-Waqt of Lahore that the Indo-Pak dialogue would have no outcome unless India accepts the disputed status of Kashmir. I also said that India was showing the worst form of state terrorism in Kashmir, and that it was the responsibility of Pakistan to press India to stop such atrocities in Kashmir. If India continues to use its force, and does not provide space to the representation to meet the people, if it continues arresting youth, awarding life imprisonment to people who have already spent a long time in jails, what will be the outcome of the dialogue process? If Pakistan continues with the dialogue without asking Indiato stop atrocities, it would be rubbing salt on our wounds. Pakistan should have a policy to tell India that it will not hold any dialogue unless these human rights violations end. Boycotting elections is the best policy by which we can tell India that we don’t want to be with you. The other thing about elections is that those who seek votes from us support the Indian occupation here. They later become heads of the unified command and a partner to the killing, bloodshed and torture of Kashmiri youth. By voting for them, people become part of the crimes and sins they commit Why do you think there is a change in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy? The internal situation in Pakistan is very bad. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (PTT) is harming Pakistan. Even if the Taliban in Afghanistan are fighting a legitimate battle against the American occupation, but PTT is cutting the branch it is sitting on. We have always condemned their actions. Given their attacks on schools, funerals, Masjids, minority communities, children and women, it is clear that it is terrorism. Pakistan has suffered a lot because of this. Simultaneously there are freedom voices in Balochistan, continuous drone attacks from the US, a bad relationship with Afghanistan, pressure from the US, the economic crisis .The Pakistani leadership thinks that friendship with India may bring some relief to in problems. Pakistan proposes to get electricity from India, and may ask for other things in future. Thus, it is unable to hold the policy it held in the past, or should hold now. And this is not good for Kashmir? This is not good for us at all. The compromise is not acceptable to us, nor is it fruitful. Pakistan is under some pressure from the US also to show some compromise. When I met Musharraf during his rule, he told me that India was a big nation with huge military power and resources. Pakistan has fought two wars with India, and Kashmiris have also given sacrifices for their cause, so it is better to hold dialogue with India. In response, the first thing I told him was that he should not use force against his own people, which he did. Then I told him that our struggle was based on truth; we should continue our struggle by having faith in Allah. He would definitely help us. But in response he said that he had George Bush and Tony Blair with him. He did not take the name of Allah then. That is why there is a change in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy since. You say that India exploits Kashmiris’ participation in elections, but some people believe that this is because you link elections with the Kashmir issue by calling for a boycott. They think the two were better not related. People who fight these elections say the same thing during election days - that there is no relationship between elections and the Kashmir issue. Even people who do not have a clear policy on elections, and don’t give a boycott call openly, are also of the same opinion. What we have to see is whether India accepts this. It still exploits people’s election participation. We have to check what India is doing. Some people even say that by boycotting, you allow those to get elected who do harm to the Kashmir cause, and, that by participating, those who can speak about the Kashmir issue in the assembly could be elected. We have experienced it in the past. Nobody can play any such role there. In the 1977 elections, Sheikh Abdullah said at the Mujahid Manzil here that if India did not give a dignified status to Kashmiris they would take a different path. The National Conference took these words to every part of the valley. But it was deceit. The National Conference won a majority, if not a two-thirds majority. What did they do then? Nothing. I have myself been in the assembly for 15 years, but we could do nothing. A voice may be raised occasionally there about the Kashmir issue but it does not anyway bother India. We can bring strength to our freedom movement only with boycott. Boycotting the election is the best policy by which we can tell India that we don’t want to be with you. The other thing about elections is that those who seek votes from us support the Indian occupation here. They later become heads of the unified command and a partner to the killing, bloodshed and torture of Kashmiri youth. By voting for them, people become part of the crimes and sins committed by them. It is the responsibility of the leadership to make people aware in time that by voting for such people we are harming our religion, faith, character and values. When there are two paths before the people, it is the responsibility of the leadership toshow the right one. The rest is up to the people. Like legislators, bureaucrats also become a part of the Indian system. Why don’t you tell people toboycott the bureaucracy also? Undoubtedly. But to boycott the bureaucracy we should have some alternative. People go to them to get their daily needs addressed. How can we solve their problems? For that we should have our own system or control on a specific territory as there is in Palestine. Even they are under Israeli occupation, but they have control over a specific territory with their own authority to solve the daily problems of the people. You have condemned the killing of sarpanches, but when a pro India political worker gets killed, you don’t issue any such statements. Why so? We have a standing policy that people involved in such civilian killing should make the charge-sheet against that person public. If unknown or unidentified people are involved in any killing, we can’t say whether it is any militant group or any other group like the Ikhwan who operate from military camps. Did we not we see large-scale killing during the time of the Ikhwanis? Anyother group could be enjoying the same patronage today. We can’t say anything. It is being said that militancy is getting revived inKashmir and youth are again joining militant groups. Why do you think it is so? When the youth are pushed to the wall what will they do? When they are not provided space to do their work, not allowed to protest, or raise any slogan, and the leadership is not allowed to meetthem, what will they do? The policy of the Indian government and its puppets here is only to push the youth to the wall. Joining militancy is a natural consequence. Many people forecast the arrival of the Taliban in Kashmir after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Do you think there is any such possibility? I don’t think so. The Taliban will face new problems after the US withdrawal. There is no possibility that they will come here. We should have a faith in Allah and fight against the occupation ourselves. Who will be the leader after Geelani? Would you like to name anyone? The Hurriyat has a clear working policy with the main goals of Islam, freedom and the unification of the Ummah. Those who work sincerely to achieve these goals, and have the ability to lead, will come forward automatically. There is no need to identify them? They don’t need to be identified. The Tehreek-e-Hurriyat has its own system, and definite processes of forming different bodies and electing members. It is better to give this right to the responsible members of the party to elect someone as per party standards rather than naming or identifying anyone. You have been saying that the Amarnath Yatra needs to be limited as it is a threat to the environment. What are you doing to press your point? We are not against the Yatra but against the aggression being shown in its name under the Amarnath Shrine Board. It is a state within a state. For more than 150 years the Yatra was organized by locals, with no impact on the environment, water or forests. Now with the massive Yatra, Indian is showing its aggression, intimidating us, and damaging our environment. Economic benefits are being spoken of. May be two or three per cent people are benefitted, but overall it is damaging our environment. Now it has been turned into a 55-day affair with16500 yatris everyday - around nine lakh in total this year. The impact of this massive influx into such afragile zone can only be imagined. We want that the Yatra duration, and the number of pilgrims should be limited as in other places in India. We will continue to raise the issue, and highlight the stand we have on the Yatra. What would be your message for the people? My message to the people is that they should try to make themselves deserving of Allah’s help. People, particularly youth, should make Islam their way of life. They should shape themselves, their homes and society according to the teachings of Islam. We all need to act with responsibility to check the growing immorality in our society. I appeal to people not to remain silent before the oppression and atrocities committed on them by India. I appeal to people not to surrender but continue with their struggle for freedom and follow the leadership. This is theway to succeed. It should not be that the leadership says something and the people do something else. The movement cannot go forward this way.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 07:49:03 +0000