J&K Polls: ‘We don’t deserve to be crucified. Let the people decide our fate’

PULWAMA: “It is the most pressing need of the moment that we come out of the past and catch up with the present. We must look for ways to prevent our society, our qaum (nation) from being harmed further. And one critical moment that has come our way is these elections,” said Dr. Talat Majid Alie while holding a handheld microphone connected to a speaker mounted on a Toyota SUV.

We are at Inder, a captivating village and home of legendary Kashmiri Sufi poet and saint Soch Kral situated deep inside Pulwama until a few years ago a hotbed of insurgency. A furlong away from his mausoleum, a bevy of worshippers who have just come out of a beautiful village mosque give Alie, a former functionary of Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir (JeI), a patient hearing. Alie is seeking election to Jammu and Kashmir Assembly as an independent.

After explaining his statement of intent, Alie asks the crowd ‘will you then give me a chance’? An elderly man responds, ‘In’Sha Allah (God willing)’. Others keep their trap shut and disperse quietly to return to their homes. Besides Alie, about two dozen other former separatists including a few of those who were once ruling the roost in one or the other militant outfit have joined the poll fray to break away from the boycott calls that they had pursued for decades.

Their transition from belligerency to democratic politics has evoked mixed reactions from various mainstream and separatist political parties and common people. While the BJP and some other parties have welcomed their decision to fight elections saying it could be pivotal for democracy, J&K’s regional parties like National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress smell a rat. The leaders of these parties, both publicly and privately, say that the presence of an unprecedented number of independents including former separatists in the poll fray this time could be part of the BJP’s ploy to seek division of the opposition votes in the Assembly elections being held after a gap of ten years.

Since February 2019, the JeI stands banned by the Union home minister under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. However, a statement printed on its letterhead and circulated through social media last week announced that the panel headed by former party leader Ghulam Qadir Wani who was the first to signal a shift in political stance and aspirations for a “stable future” has been formed at the behest of the BJP and the RSS. It asked people “not to cut their own throat by helping in any manner these millat-farosh people (traitors) at this crucial stage.” Wani claimed that the statement was fake and written on a “stolen” official stationery of the JeI.

Many of the commoner Kashmiris have welcomed their decision to contest elections. “Our people went through hell all these years. Now everyone seems to have realised that without dialogue, unity, love and heartfulness lasting peace cannot return to J&K. This is a change of thought in our youth…everyone has started thinking with sagacity and knows which way is the correct way,” said Muhammad Noorani Jara, a sheepherder.

“The poll boycott calls of whether you call them pro-aazadi or separatist groups only damaged the interests of the Kashmiris. I wish they had not done it in the first place and revisited their decision many years ago. Some of them have joined the fray this time, let’s welcome them with all sincerity. Der aayad, durust aayad (better late than never), said Vakil Ahmed, a resident of Pulwama’s Pinglena village.

However, Abdul Wahid Khatana of Kangan segment, said, “It is these people who pushed us in a terrible situation. It was because of them that we went through mayhem, misery and misfortune. I am not going to trust them, leave alone voting in their favour.”

Many critics of these candidates see in their participation in electoral politics a political opportunism. But Alie denied it is an ideological shift as is believed by some people. “We are being asked if it is an ideological shift. I want to tell people that it is a political shift. It is a decision taken by heart and not a forced choice. Whenever you talk about Kashmir you need to think about the impact of the geo-political scenario on it. Keeping that geo-political scenario in view, you ought to think internationally but act locally when it comes to the Kashmir issue.”

He added, “The gun has failed to deliver. I know several militant commanders who abjured the gun a couple of years after taking it up. They also would say that this is not the way we should tread upon…this is not the solution to our problems. I know some top (militant) commanders who would say we should seek a political solution. Today forget about freedom, forget about Pakistan…we have climbed down to demanding the restoration of statehood to J&K. We now ask for the return of the pre-August 5, 2019 position.”�

Alie said that he was not talking about the Jamaat alone, but other groups were also thinking along the same lines. “I am not talking just about the Jamaat-e-Islami. I talk about every (separatist) organisation whether working on a political front or holding the gun- all were insisting that we should do something politically. The gun is not the solution.”

Alie added that if he and some others have taken the lead they do not deserve to be crucified. “Let the people decide our fate,” he pleaded.�