A day after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressed readiness to talk to “right minded people” in Kashmir, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said New Delhi’s Kashmir policy was “full of flip-flops.”
“We are not seeing any change of heart, but a change of strategy forced upon them by the change in circumstances. The policy of extreme repression was pursued as a state policy since the BJP came to power in New Delhi four years ago, which was a complete departure from the ways of the previous BJP regime led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” said the Mirwaiz in his Friday sermon.
He alleged that the present regime had indulged in an all-out assault. “The assaults were carried out militarily, through the judiciary, economically or based on demography,” he said.
‘Witch hunt’
The Mirwaiz said the detention of [the separatist] leadership and the NIA harassment was nothing “but witch hunt.” “It is due to the failure of the harsh policy and international pressure, that today we see the ‘softening’ in their stand,” he said.
The Hurriyat leader said the separatists would be happy if good sense prevailed upon the Government of India “about the futility of using force on the people in this David vs Goliath battle.” “Our leadership is in no hurry to respond to Delhi’s assertions over dialogue and will discuss the matter in the coming days,” said the Mirwaiz.
He said if the GoI really cared for J&K’s children and young it should resolve the Kashmir dispute in the wider context of humanity and justice.
Yasin Malik’s charge
JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, who addressed a congregation at Chrar-e-Sharief in Budgam, said Union Home Minster Rajnath Singh “has no right to sermonise on saving the new Kashmiri generation as the Centre had killed and blinded youth in the past four years.”
Meanwhile, Hurryat faction chairman Syed Ali Geelani was barred by the authorities from offering Friday prayers at the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar.