B L Saraf
Hard- liner Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has congratulated the daughter of party leader Shabir Shah for securing a big success in the CBSE ClassX11 examination. Other Hurriyat leaders, too, have made a beeline to thehouse ofdetainedShahtooffer felicitationson the ” laurels brought by Sama Shah. “Sama was a student of DPS, Srinagar. Well, there is nothing special about the move. Normally, it agesture of courtesy extended to a friend ora colleagueon the success of his ward. But what makes it extraordinary is Geelani visualizing her as a ” role model for the young generation.”
It isn’t the tale of past that Hurriyat leaders and the votaries of sectarian cause in Kashmir felt jubilant when young Pakistani girl Malala Yousfzai was nearly killed by the jihadist elements, in Peshawar Pakistan, forher ‘ sin ‘of pursuing education and telling other girls to follow suit. Malala is constantly being derided as a renegade to the cause spoused by the fundamentalists. She has been forced to live in exile in a Western country. In the Valley these elements, patronized by Geelani and Coburnt down schools and places where education was imparted to the young. To them, these schools posed a big hurdle to the cause of ‘ freedom ” and put a brake to the supply chain of’ stone pelting brigade of young boys and girls. These Hurriyat leaders preached that education can wait but not the struggle for ‘freedom ‘.
Indeed, this is great leap of faith. It is a quantum jump from a position from where the separatists, in not so distant past, eulogized a school dropout- stone pelter as the torch bearer of the’ freedom movement “, to the describing one a ‘ role model’ who has made strides in the educational domain. Could we, therefore, say may be late but good sense has, at last, dawned on the merchants of gloom. Or, is it the case of things falling in a pattern. In both cases, it bodes well for the people.
For the Hurriyat leaders it is evident that proverbial chicken are coming home to roost. Young Kashmiris have started asking question. Why is that only children of the poor are disallowed to join good private schools and used as fodder to the guns, while as they have placed their own kith and kin in the lucrative positions, in safe environs far away from the Valley of death ? Geelani and Co will have to answer the question, sooner than latter.
From available indications, it appears that PM Modi’s policy on Kashmir has changed course. G O I has authorized interlocutor to speak with ” all sections of society.”Ramzan ceasefire is in place. However, all depends on how Pakistan responds to the situation. Subversive elements and vested interests in Kashmir need to be watched. Home Minister Rajnath Singh is visiting Kashmir early next month to push forward the peace and dialogue process announced on May, 28. Home Minister’s up coming visit to the Valley may reaffirm series of moves Centre has initiated to bring in peace and stability. One must note with hope what Army Chief has said, lately. In Srinagar he said that Ceasefire operations could be expanded. This is quite in contrast to what he had said previous year that Army would go after even sympathizersof the terrorists.Peace in theStateisextremely desirable : as it is, indeed,requiredon the L OCand IB. Border dwellers need respite from the trying ordeal, they are going through.
Important separatist leaders like Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farroq and Yasin Malik have responded to an offer of dialogue from New Delhi. They are ” ready to join the process if the agenda of talks was made clear. “The three leaders met and issued a state menton joining the process they were seeking” a clarity from the GOI on what it wants to talk about and speak in one language. Important part of the statement was that they expressed keenness to end the conflict. These leaders described “dialogue among stakeholders as the best process and option available.”
The striking feature of the statement is that there is no reference to any conditions which has been the bedrock of separatists politics. As is the fact, notice able :it is for the first time that both hardliners and soft peddlers of separatism are on same page, and have joined together to respond positively to the Centre’s offer of talks.
A hope does emerge, when we put these developing situation in context of what Hurriyat leaders, particularly the hard liners – are saying for a dialogue. Our prayer, nonetheless, must continue.
People, in general, expect Geelani and Co to stick to the belief expressed on Sama’s success that young boys and girls like her should be the role models, and not those who wield gun and go on blowing up schools and create death and may hemon the roads, in Kashmir. One who leads to the death and destruction can never be a freedom fighter or a role model. Sama has had quality education in a school of national character and reach. Aspiring young should emulate her to have the quality education. The young in Kashmir need to know that it is the good education, alone, that will stand them in good stead, in the critical moments. They must overcome the inhibition. For sure, no Madrasa can provide them employable education.
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge)
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