The fragmented separatist camp in Kashmir is billed for further divisions amid their depleting contact with the people and continuous absence of dialogue process focused on Kashmir issue.
The separatist camp is mainly divided in three groups— the two factions of Hurriyat Conference led each by Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and some non-aligned parties like pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir liberation Front (JKlF) and Kashmir High Court Bar Association. These groups have shot off from a single alliance All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) formed in early 1990s when militants were ruling the roost in Kashmir.
Both Hurriyat factions comprise fragmented constituents except Jamaat-e-Islami and Awami Action Committee (AAC). Jamaat is aligned with Geelani while AAC is Mirwaiz’s own party. These two parties with firm cadre base have the distinction of participation in electoral politics prior to onset of insurgency in Kashmir.
The latest fragmentation emerged in Mirwaiz’s faction of Hurriyat. Three constituents of the faction, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) of Shabir Shah, National Front of Nayeem Khan and Mahaz-e-Azadi of Azam Inquilabi have been put on notice by Mirwaiz for their alleged anti-alliance activities.
Mirwaiz has shot off a letter to Pakistan occupied Kashmir-based Convenor of his group Yusuf Naseem to delink the trio as they have “embarked on a separate path and left Hurriyat on their own”. The Muzaffarabad-based Convenor takes directions from Srinagar and works as a vital front for the amalgam’s activities in Pakistan. Mirwaiz told Naseem that “instructions and guidance” were needed for the Muzaffarabad chapter to make it “more cohesive and effective”.
“It is expected from you to note that the persons or groups who have voluntarily chosen not to conform to the organisational discipline of Hurriyat and who have chosen to tread a separate path of their own have practically ceased to be the members of Hurriyat,” Mirwaiz wrote much to the chagrin of Shah, Khan and Inquilabi.
Though Mirwaiz did not name anyone, he directed Naseem to delink with the representatives of these groups forthwith. A common refrain in Kashmir is that the Muzaffarabad-based chapter takes care of financing the separatist groups in Kashmir. Many of the separatist groups are one-man parties, which thrive on issuing press statements and ensuring their publication in local media.
Shah and Khan developed differences with Mirwaiz after they were released from jail after 2010 public uprising in Kashmir. The chinks widened when in May 2012, Mirwaiz’s confidante and former Hurriyat Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat trumpeted irrelevance of UN resolutions on Kashmir. He later retracted his statements.
The subdivision in Hurriyat comes a decade after Geelani had quit Hurriyat amalgam in 2003 alleging that Mirwaiz and his confidantes chose not to involve in anti-election campaign in 2002 when Geelani was incarcerated. Geelani said that one of the Hurriyat constituents People’s Conference fielded proxy candidates in the election. Geelani’s allegations were proven when Sajjad lone quit separatism and contested parliamentary elections.
His brother Bilal Ghani, who heads a faction of People’s Conference, continues to be part of Mirwaiz’s Hurriyat. Observers say that the factionalism in separatist camp is increasing because their lack of role in the political maneuvering in Kashmir. The Governments in India and Pakistan have not involved the separatists in any dialogue process since 2007. The separatist leaders are cut-off from the people, either voluntarily or through the curbs imposed by the authorities. Geelani, who enjoys significant public support, is not being allowed to carry out his political activities, they say.