Ishfaq-ul-Hassan
SRINAGAR—Fear has gripped separatist leaders after reports emerged that the Centre is mulling to ban both moderate and hard-line factions of Hurriyat Conference under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Soon after the reports surfaced, separatists pulled down the board of Tahreek-e-Hurriyat from its Hyderpora office which doubles up as the residence of the chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Separatist leaders fear a new wave of arrest and confiscation of party offices and other assets. Several leaders are already jailed, Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are under house arrest.
Centre’s rethink comes days after former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti asked New Delhi to learn a lesson from US withdrawal in Afghanistan and warned that if people of J&K “lose patience, you will not remain — you will (also) disappear”.
Media reports said a recent probe into the case related to MBBS seats in Pakistan indicates that the money collected from aspirants by some organizations, which were part of the Hurriyat Conference, was being used for funding terror organizations in the Union Territory.
Officials said both factions of Hurriyat are likely to be banned under Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA. Officials told the news agency that the proposal was mooted in accordance with the Centre’s policy of zero-tolerance against terrorism.
Formed in 1993, Hurriyat Conference is a conglomerate of different political parties with varied ideologies. A two-tier decision-making body, it comprises a seven-member executive council and the general council. The general council comprises smaller parties. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq became the first chairman of the Hurriyat Conference.
However, Geelani engineered a split in the conglomerate in 2003 after he accused Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone of fielding proxy candidates in the 2002 assembly elections. Later Geelani formed his own faction and Jamat-e-Islami skidded safe and pulled out of his faction.
A year later Sajad’s Peoples Conference too spilt after he decided to pull out of Hurriyat in protest against Mirwaiz for leading funeral prayers of his father’s assassin. His brother Bilal Gani Lone rebelled and refused to leave Hurriyat.
In February 2019, the Centre banned the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) for five years for allegedly supporting “terrorist groups and being involved in the anti-national and subversive activities in the country”.
Later Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) was also banned. JKLF chairman Yasin Malik is already been imprisoned in Tihar Jail. Shabir Shah too is in Tihar. DuKhataran-e-Milat leader Asiya Andrabi and Muslim League chief Masarat Alam too are jailed in Tihar for terror financing.
Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is under house arrest since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked Article 370. Ailing Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani too is under house arrest.
Others in jail include Altaf Ahmed Shah, the son-in-law of Geelani; businessman Zahoor Ahmed Watali; Geelani’s close aide Ayaz Akbar, who is also the spokesperson of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat; Peer Saifullah; Shahid-ul-Islam, spokesperson of the moderate Hurriyat Conference; Mehrajuddin Kalwal; Nayeem Khan; and Farooq Ahmed Dar alias ‘Bitta Karate’.
At least four persons including Mohammad Akbar Bhat alias Zaffar Bhat, chairman of Salvation Movement, which is part of moderate Hurriyat Conference were arrested in MBBS seat selling case recently.
The news agency reported that It is alleged that the constituents of Hurriyat Conference were “selling” MBBS seats in Pakistan to Kashmiri students and using the money collected, at least partly, to support and fund terrorism.
Hurriyat Conference led by incarcerated chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq denounced the propaganda being promoted in print and other media by authorities.
In a statement, Hurriyat said that it wants to put on record that this is completely unfounded and can be verified by those students or parents whom they have recommended, many among them being from among economically weak sections.
Hurriyat said its chairman, who is also the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, has all along been giving recommendation letters to students for colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia Malaysia, Turkey, and elsewhere
Hurriyat reiterated that the sentiments of the people of J&K with regard to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in a peaceful and fair manner cannot be altered despite “repression, legal tactics, or propaganda”.
Hurriyat said it will always represent the people’s aspiration and seek their fulfillment through its principled stand of dialogue and deliberations among the stakeholders of the conflict.
