Srinagar, July 30 (Bashir Assad): A civil society group from New-Delhi accompanied by some political leaders had to face stiff resistance during a public interaction here in Srinagar when a handful of youth took the conference hall in their incarceration shouting anti-India slogans.
Centre for Policy Analysis (CPA,) a Delhi based organization had organized a public discourse on Kashmir in Srinagar in which more than a dozen separatist leaders and an equal number of mainstream leaders were to participate but the situation took an ugly turn when minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hasan Mir during his speech asked the people not to blame Centre for everything that happens in Kashmir. The minister was actually responding to the reports that hard-line separatist leader Sayed Ali Geelani was put under house arrest by the administration and as such barring him from participating in the function. On this a handful of highly charged youth interrupted the minister and started shouting anti-India slogans.
“If the government here has not allowed Geelani to come here, why should we blame Delhi for it,” Mir said, drawing a hostile reaction from the audience. Mir was constantly interrupted by the group, he however did not leave the stage and finally made his point before coming down from the dice. “We all have a vested interest in peace and have to be united for finding a roadmap to resolution of the issue,” Mir said as the sloganeering subsided
However, within a couple of minutes, organizers of the seminar got a phone call from Geelani’s close aid saying that Geelani was freed and he was coming to address the seminar. Another Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah was also put under house arrest as reported by his workers but he could not make it to the venue.
Soon after Geelani arrived, Seema Mustafa who is heading the CPA, registered her protest before Geelani saying that disrupting the proceedings of a seminar in Kashmir was as condemnable as was the incident were Geelani was attacked by right-wing Kashmiri Pandits in New-Delhi. But utter to the surprise of every one Geelani during his speech did not took notice of the protest, he however, asked the youth to maintain discipline during his speech.
Geelani, blamed New Delhi for its inconsistent approach towards Kashmir and challenged the locus of the visiting group saying that organizing seminars in Kashmir was a futile exercise and instead they (the group) should go and inform the public in India about the atrocities being committed upon the people of Kashmir by the state forces. Geelani maintained though international community was not bothered about Kashmir, he will continue his struggle for “self determination” till its logical conclusion. “ I assure you, India cannot keep Kashmir under its forced occupation for longer and it (India) has to accept our demand of inalienable rights” Geelani told the audience adding that our sacrifices won’t go waste.
The hard-line separatist Kashmiri leader blamed India for using force against the unarmed and innocent Kashmiri who are in the middle of their “righteous struggle”.
Earlier, independent legislator Abdul Rashid accused the Centre of not being clear in its stand on Kashmir issue.
Parliamentarians Arjun Roy from JD(U), Mohammad Saleem (CPI-M), Aziz Pasha (CPI) and RLD”s Shahid Sidiqui also spoke at the seminar.
“We are here to understand each other, to feel your pain. We understand what you have gone through in the last 63 tears,” Sidiqui said. He was also interrupted a couple of times by the handful group due to which Siddiqui got irritated and shouted back saying, If you don’t allow us to speak, we will not listen to you anymore. On this the group calmed down and Siddiqui continued his speech.
“We cannot have peace in the subcontinent, we cannot have development in India, Pakistan or in Bangladesh until we do not have peace in Kashmir,” the RLD leader Arjun Roy said during his speech.
Muhammad Saleem of CPI(M) said sincere efforts were required to bridge the gap between Kashmiris and the rest of the people. He too was interrupted but some among the audience got angry over this and entered into a scuffle with the slogan mongers. There was complete chaos for a while in the hall, however, prominent civil society members intervened and pacified the situation. “ I came here on my own expenses, we are not agents and if you don’t allow us to support you by creating chaotic situation, you will be in loss” Saleem said.