Never endorsed gun or violence as means of resolving Kashmir issue: Mirwaiz Umar
Srinagar: Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said that he never endorsed the gun or violence as a way of resolving the conflict over Kashmir. He asserted that talks among the parties to the “dispute” and not elections are the way forward to resolve it amicably.
In his post-Friday sermon speech from the rostrum of Srinagar’s Jama Masjid, the Mirwaiz asserted that India and Pakistan have failed to look at Kashmir as a humanitarian issue for it has consumed generations of the Kashmiris. “The people of Kashmir are yearning for a just solution and an end to the conflict. They want the pain of the families divided across the Line of Control (LoC) since 1947 should go. They want the suffering of the Kashmiri Pandit community after their migration to come to an end too. This pulpit has always stood for humanity and the rights of all the people of J&K,” he said.
The Mirwaiz warned that the iron fist policy is not the solution. “On August 5, 2019, our political rights were snatched, and we lost our control on land rights, jobs and what not. This is not going to help. It would rather obfuscate the issues and push us into a more difficult situation,” he said.
Reiterating that the people of J&K want a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue, the Mirwaiz said that the Government of India must acknowledge the ground reality and take steps towards resolving the issue through dialogue. “We talked with Vajpayee, Advani, Manmohan Singh. The same thinking needs to be carried forward,” he said, adding, “We don’t want guns in the hands of our youth; we don’t want Kashmir to take the shape of Palestine. The mainstream parties must unite to save whatever is left with us.”
He also said that the elections for governance are no means to resolve the Kashmir issue as those elected do not represent people’s aspirations and sentiments about the conflict. He said, “These are two different things. Anyway, the civic elections in a Union Territory as J&K was downgraded to in 2019 is limiting in giving any real power to its residents. In J&K it was rendered almost meaningless after further amendments were made to the Reorganisation Act giving further sweeping executive powers to the Lieutenant Governor. Yet with the kind of disempowerment and dispossession that we have witnessed since August 2019, the people of J&K have some hope that it may give them some relief and say in their daily matters.” (sic)
The Mirwaiz lamented over him being placed under house detention for about one month. He said, “It is ridiculous that I am detained at will by the authorities and worse that it is denied in public then. Despite their best efforts to project it otherwise and suppress the truth, the fact of my detention can’t be denied in this age of information. The recent reports by USCIRF and FIDH mention the realities of J&K including large scale political detentions and incarcerations and arrests of religious leaders.”
