Srinagar: Two more small constituents of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) have walked out of the separatist amalgam, asserting it has failed to live up to the expectations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Ghulam Nabi Sofi, chief of Jammu and Kashmir Tehreek-i-Istiqlal (the movement for independence) has while announcing its formal disassociation from the APHC or any other group pursuing the similar ideology said here on Wednesday, “We continued our struggle despite all odds but neither APHC (Geelani) nor APHC (Mirwaiz) has been able to live up to the expectations of the common masses. They failed at every step to represent the people’s aspirations and sentiments.”
In a statement, Sofi added, “I have long before severed my ties with separatist ideology and today I officially denounce it. I am a true and committed citizen of India and believe in the Indian Constitution.”
Muhammad Sharief Sartaj, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Movement (JKFM) has also announced his dissociation from the APHC and other separatist groups and leaders. Strongly opposing the ideology of the APHC, he said it has failed to address the aspirations and grievances of the people of J&K. Calling himself a committed citizen of India, Mr. Sartaj who is based in Jammu pledged to dedicate himself to upholding the national integrity. He also announced the disbandment of the JKFM.
On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had termed the breaking off ties with separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) by two political outfits – Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Movement (JKDM) and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement- as a “victory” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision” and urged other constituents of the amalgam to shun separatism and come forward to strengthen the country’s unity.
“Separatism has become history in Kashmir. The unifying policies of the Modi government have tossed separatism out of J&K,” Mr. Shah claimed in a post on ‘X’. Welcoming the two outfits’ severing their ties with separatism, the Home Minister had said that it was a step towards strengthening India’s unity. He had urged all such groups to “come forward and shed separatism once and for all” and asserted, “It is a big victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji's vision of building a developed, peaceful and unified Bharat.”
In September last year, Syed Salim Gilani, a former functionary of the Hurriyat Conference had quit the separatist camp to join mainstream politics. Mr. Gilani who headed the J&K National Party, a constituent of the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat Conference faction, had after joining the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the J&K Assembly elections, on being asked about the radical change in his political outlook, told this newspaper, “We can’t continue to make people eat and drink freedom; we can’t make them to wear freedom. They are facing many problems in their day to day lives. While they want a solution to the Kashmir issue, they also want employment. They want their everyday life problems to be addressed too.”
