While Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed envisages Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Srinagar as “turning-point in history”, the authorities have launched a massive crackdown on separatists to prevent their “Srinagar Million March”. The Prime Minister is arriving here on November 7 to address his first public rally in Kashmir. He is expected to announce a massive economic package, to the tune of one lakh crore rupees for the development of J&K and rehabilitation of the victims of 2014 floods.
The separatists, unlike the past, have announced to hold a parallel rally in Tourist Reception Center (TRC) Grounds. Chairman of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Geelani floated the idea and other groups including JKlF and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led Hurriyat supported the proposal.
Modi is scheduled to address the rally at Amar Singh Club Grounds, where he addressed an election rally last year.
Sources said that ahead of the rally, several leaders and activists of Geelani’s Hurriyat were either arrested or put under house detention. On Sunday, Mirwaiz Farooq supported Geelani’s call. The authorities detained JKlF chief Yasin Malik and leader of a Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmad Shah. A statement of Hurriyat said that Geelani continues to be under house detention while as activists of his party are being taken into custody.
Mirwaiz’s Hurriyat on Sunday appealed to people to make the “Million March” programme a success to send message across that Kashmiris “are offering sacrifices for securing Right to Self Determination promised by the UN”. “New Delhi cannot woo people to give up their fight for Self-Determination by extending doles and announcing economic packages”, Mirwaiz said adding the Indian leadership must understand that a political resolution and not economic packages could resolve the vexed Kashmir issue.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed exuded confidence that Modi’s visit will be a turning point in the history of J&K.
Describing Modi as a visionary who has his eyes fixed on overall development of J&K Mufti said that the visit would be like repetition of history. “I see this visit as an opportunity for history to repeat itself,” Mufti said recalling the address of former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee to the people during his memorable visit in 2003 from the same venue.
Describing politics as art of the possible, Mufti Sayeed at a public rally here thanked both Congress and National Conference for extending unconditional support when the 2014 Assembly election results threw a fractured mandate. He said after thoughtful consideration that took more than two months, he took a calibrated decision to opt for BJP in the larger interests of all the three distinct regions of the state. “Way back in 1947, our visionary leaders had demonstrated similar political maturity and acumen to accede with India, keeping in view the pluralistic demography of J&K. We will remove trust deficit and ensure that no region harbours a feeling of deprivation or discrimination,” he said, while defending his decision to align with BJP, which won an overwhelming majority in the 2014 lok Sabha elections.