Author: Basharat Peer in New Delhi
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: April 26, 2001
Firebrand Kashmiri separatist leader
Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday night called the present ceasefire in
Jammu & Kashmir meaningless and limited to the media.
"The killings of innocents in Kashmir
continue, the crackdowns by the security forces are on and Kashmiris are
being subjected to insulting identification parades every day. Everything
that was happening before the ceasefire in Kashmir is happening even now,"
he said.
Geelani was addressing a function
to commemorate the silver jubilee celebrations of the Students Islamic
Movement of India, an organisation of Muslim students which was set up
on April 25, 1977, at the Aligarh Muslim University to 'shape the lives
of Muslim youth according to the principles of Islam'.
Addressing the gathering at New
Delhi's Ghalib Academy, Geelani denounced the offer of peace talks by the
Government of India, calling it "the drama of talks".
Accusing India of oppressing and
murdering Kashmiris, he said there was no point in talking now. He said
the government was only trying to legitimize its "military occupation"
of Kashmir with the charade of peace talks.
Geelani's hard-hitting statement
is significant because it came just a day before the All-Parties Hurriyat
Conference, the separatist conglomerate of whose executive council he is
a member, is to decide whether to respond to the offer of talks made by
the government's chief negotiator, Krishan Chandra Pant.
Geelani borrowed the Hindi phrase
"attoot ang" (inseparable part) to say that Jammu & Kashmir is not
an atoot ang of India, but is disputed territory. "Till the people of Jammu
& Kashmir are given the right to choose their destiny as per the United
Nations Security Council resolutions, they will continue to fight for their
freedom, what India dubs terrorism," he said.
"I want to convey to the Government
of India through you," he told the gathering, "that we are fighting for
the implementation of our rights."
Justifying the secessionist armed
struggle, he said, "I too fought the elections and chose the way of peace,
but India rejected our demands by virtue of its force. Then our youth chose
the armed option and without a care for their lives set out to fight for
our rights."
He went on to compare the Kashmiri
militants with freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, who died fighting British
imperialism, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who raised the Indian National
Army in pursuit of Indian independence.
Spitting fire, Geelani called the
policies of the government "doghlee" (of double standards). He argued that
when the people of the former East Pakistan asked for freedom, Indian forces
went there and fought for them. So when Kashmiris demanded freedom, how
could India justify using brute force to suppress them, he asked.
The recent killing and mutilation
of 16 Border Security Force jawans by the Bangladesh Rifles also found
mention in Geelani's speech. He condemned the mutilation, only to add,
"But what is being done to the bodies of our boys, you cannot even imagine."
The teacher turned politician then
aimed his rhetoric at the emotional chords of his audience. "When you are
feeling sad about the mutilation of the bodies of your soldiers, why do
not you realise that Kashmiris too feel this pain? Why do you continue
to have double standards?"
Apart from Kashmir, the caste system
also came in for fire from Geelani. He remarked that even 53 years after
independence a shudra and a brahmin cannot drink from the same well in
India. He further accused the country of trying to dominate the region
with nuclear bombs and missiles when 32 million of its population are without
clean drinking water.
He referred to India's annual expenditure
of around Rs 16,000 crore [Rs 160 billion] on safeguarding its borders.
Quoting a British Broadcasting Corporation report to say that the government
was spending $1 million every day on this task, he said India should invest
this money more profitably to improve the lives of its citizens instead
of forcibly holding on to Kashmir, whose inhabitants do not identify with
India.
Once his speech was over, Geelani
made a hasty exit, leaving the crowd of journalists and television crews
without a sound byte or a quote. He is expected to join the other members
of the APHC executive council on Thursday morning to decide whether to
talk to Pant.
