Masked men flashed victory signs and jeered at the all-party delegation on Sunday by raising anti-India slogans, while hiding in lanes and by-lanes just metres from Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s residence at Hyderpora.
The victory sign is for Geelani’s refusal to meet them, an endorsement to the hardening position taken by separatists on the streets.
After Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), the venue of the all-party team’s meeting with mainstream leaders, it’s Geelani’s Hyderpora residence that attracted the sharp spotlight of the local people as well as visiting MPs.
As summer is paving way to autumn in Kashmir with a nip in the air, separatist politics too is undergoing a tectonic shift.
Mr. Geelani, first time after the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) split in 2003 over the issue of proxy polls and a moderate approach towards the dialogue process, is emerging as front-runner among the separatist spectrum.
Mr. Geelani, in fact, is referred to as APHC chairman, as it was in pre-2002 era, and not that of splinter faction of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeK), which he heads now, in the joint protest programmes and shutdown calls issued by him on behalf of the Mirwaiz and Mr. Malik.
It’s a sign how Mr. Geelani’s hardliner position on Kashmir post-2006 swelled his constituency in the wake of no permanent resolution in sight, as expected by the Mirwaiz by backing widely known as four-point (former Pakistan president) Musharraf’s formula.
Both the Mirwaiz and Mr. Malik, who were pro-dialogue in the past and for a triangular dialogue, if not a tripartite one that stresses on the direct involvement of Pakistan at the table, have decided to rally behind Mr. Geelani’s position that India has to first prove its sincerity to resolve the Kashmir issue by accepting its disputed nature in publicly.
“Another important consideration might be to test the seriousness and sincerity of New Delhi towards resolution of this dispute,” said Sheikh Showkat, a professor of Law at Central University, Kashmir.
The post-2003 lines dividing separatists into two camps: moderates and hardliners or doves and hawks has blurred in the Valley.
“As the Indian state too gave up on moderation, all separatists are now rallying behind Mr. Geelani,” said Gul Wani, Professor of Political Science at Kashmir University.
