Indo-Asian News Service
Srinagar, July 12: Senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani Tuesday blamed “pro-Indian forces and the Indian government for creating Burhan Wanis”.
Rocked by widespread protests, the Kashmir Valley has been on the edge following the weekend killing of rebel commander Burhan Wani, 22, who had emerged as the new face of Kashmir’s militancy, using Facebook and other social media to rally supporters and reach out to other youths.
Asked if the separatist political leadership had failed Kashmir’s new generation in giving them alternatives to the gun to claim democratic and political rights, Geelani said, “India shows no respect for humanity, fundamental rights of Kashmiris”.
The 87-year-old chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference – an amalgam of Kashmiri separatist groups – mocked at the Jammu and Kashmir government for urging the Hurriyat to restore peace to Kashmir. “The government has not allowed democratic forces to flourish. I am under house arrest since 2010. We are not allowed to meet people. India has unleashed a reign of terror,” added Geelani.
Geelani said he was not in “absolute control” of the situation in the Kashmir Valley and blamed “pro-Indian forces” for the bloodshed that has left over 30 people dead in violent street protests.
In an interview with IANS at his heavily-barricaded Srinagar residence, Geelani said the new generation of Kashmiris was politically more aware as well as sensitive. They are facing “brutal forces fearlessly”, he said, adding, “We cannot say we are in absolute control of the situation”.
He, however, quickly added that the young Kashmiris participating in the widespread violent protests were “influenced” by the Hurriyat ideology of “resistance against India”.
Geelani has been a strong votary of Jammu and Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan, saying the Kashmir dispute was an unresolved portion of the two-nation theory that divided India and Pakistan in 1947. The former Jama’at-e-Islami chief alleged that police and paramilitary troopers were “shooting to kill protesters at will”.
BOX 1
Injured battle shortage of medicines
Srinagar: Demonstrators injured in street protests and admitted to hospitals are battling shortages of key medicines, said their families and volunteers. The authorities, however, denied the claim. Hospitals across the Kashmir Valley, including in Srinagar, have treated hundreds injured due to firing by security forces. The victims have mainly suffered bullet and pellet wounds. At Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar, the notice board in the emergency ward has a notification indicating vital medicines including antibiotic injectables like Timentin and Amikacin are out of stock.
BOX 2
Graffiti in Srinagar praises Wani
Srinagar: Graffiti eulogising Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani, who was killed in an encounter with security forces last week, has come up at many places here. Even as most parts of Srinagar and other districts have been under strict restrictions since Saturday, wall writings have been spotted at many places here. “Burhan is our hero” says one writing on the shutter of a shop in Amira Kadal near the city centre of Lal Chowk, which has been shut since Saturday.
