How should one react to this preposterous claim: “The transition of Kashmir movement from violent to non-violent since 2008 has changed the discourse of political movements of whole Muslim world. Kashmiri non-violent struggle has inspired the movement in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries.” It is usual here for the leaders high on rhetoric to make tall claims and it’s better to ignore rather take notice of such loudmouthed talk.  Mercifully it has not been claimed that fall of Berlin wall, disintegration of Soviet empire and heroic Afghan struggle against marauding communist invaders was inspired by the Kashmiri militancy.  They would have: if militancy in Kashmir had not followed rather influenced by these historical events.  One can only sympathise with petty mindedness of inflated egos for underestimating the public intellect. This contemptuous attitude is highly deplorable. 
Claimants claiming that the “transition of Kashmir movement from violent to non-violent since 2008 has changed the discourse of political movements of whole Muslim world” (impliedly) want people to  believe that Kashmiri brand of ‘Gandhian non-violence’ movement is the father of the Middle East uprising.  Old habits die hard; it reminds one the 1990s. Then militant organisations were in great rush to own any militant activity irrespective of their capacity or reach. It’s akin to ‘Allah Tigers’ claiming the terrorist act of 9/11.  Highly informed masses cannot be fooled by any hyperbole; people of Kashmir are well-aware of the origin, moreover, far-reaching magnitude of the Arab uprising.  Through ludicrous claims the pro-freedom leaders are only exposing themselves further; indeed clowns can’t be statesmen.
It is not for the first time that so called pro freedom leaders by their incoherent utterances have made themselves the laughing stock; ultimately it denigrates the freedom movement only. Such is the people’s outrage towards these leaders that the serious minded have now begun to suspect the relevance of the freedom struggle itself.  Despite repeated failures, leaders time and again have displayed audacity to impose themselves on the people and dictate their whimsical agendas. The power politicians are the most detested and corrupt; even they have to undergo some sort of accountability process. The pro-freedom leaders consider themselves beyond any public scrutiny. The resistance movement is totally bereft of any accountability process. Had it been so, despite receiving huge funds the victims of state brutality would not have been made to suffer endlessly.  
The plight of sufferers, uncaring and inhuman attitude of the leaders has been discussed for umpteenth times. Thick-skinned show no remorse, the leaders continue to live in their cocoons. Recently a leader was seen visiting the houses of injured, he makes it a point that news along with the photograph of each and every visit is prominently carried in the press.  In one of the photographs the leader is seen holding the bullet ridden leg of a young boy, as if performing an act, he is directly staring into the lens. The event was so ghastly but crudely choreographed that one can easily make out the intention is to have a photograph with the bullet ridden leg and not to empathise with the crippled young. Was it receipt for the masters across, “I am carrying on with the assigned job”?  Perhaps in 1995 or 1996, if I remember well the name of the organisation, ‘Muslim Hands or aid’ on the eve of Bakr-Eid contacted a leader here. England based charity wanted lambs to be sacrificed in Kashmir on behalf of its donors. At some scattered places the lambs were slaughtered and photographs were sent as receipts, in order to convince the British donors that the job has been carried to their fullest satisfaction. Alas the boy in the photograph is not a lamb; the merciless leaders continue to treat the precious human lives as sacrificial lambs.  Didn’t we remember during the time of unrest leaders sermonising that any family of deceased or injured accepting government help is equivalent to accepting the blood money. These towering leaders need to be asked now, how many times they have visited these families. Attending the Chaharim, or visiting injured laying on hospital beds makes good publicity stunt; beyond the flash of cameras our leaders feel it below their dignity to visit the family of a martyr.  They are only good at digesting crores of rupees they receive from across the borders in the name of victims.  It is not an allegation, it is an open secret.   
 The horrible stories of victims render one speechless. The story of paralyzed Yawar Ibrahim, of Maisuma, is the horrific tale of a young man made to suffer. This amply indicates the greed of the leaders and insensitive attitude of all of us, claiming to be part of a resistance struggle. The fifteen year old boy would have been a student of 9Th or 10Th standard but our collective pettiness has made him a burden, his mechanic father is made to tug along alone. Yawar was injured on June 30, 2009, “a police tear gas shell hit him in the head. It has been almost one and half years that he has been bed-ridden”.  Yawar’s father Muhammad Ibrahim Bhat had to sell his workshop to look after his young son. “We have to spend some 1500 rupees each week for his treatment and medicines. We are doing it from when he was injured” Bhat said...So to spend such a hefty amount was for an impoverished family like us was out of question. Thus I sold my mechanic shop along with the goods. I also sold other property worth selling. Despite spending such a huge sum, Yawar remains bed-ridden.”  More pathetic is the fact that Yawar’s father sometimes works at the workshop of the boys trained by him: “I work on workshops whose owners used to be apprentice at my shop”. All along this period of misery Muhammad Ibrahim Bhat has been helped just once, “In 2009 when my son was in SKIMS, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front provided some monetary help”.  A random help where a sustained effort is required, is highly inadequate. Yawar is not the only one suffering; hundreds of Yawars have been made to suffer due to our collective neglect.
Last week Geelani Hurriyat called for a strike, it alleged that Syed Ali Geelani was being implicated in the hawala case; “it was an attempt to defame the movement in Kashmir”. Defaming the movement for what? What is the source of defamation here that is agonising the Hurriyat people? The disclosure of receiving the money from across the border or hawala transaction itself? It must be the shame of being caught red handed and not the hawala transaction? In present case there is possibility that government in order to ‘malign’ Geelani has framed him up in a hawala case. Yet it can never be denied that pro-freedom leaders over the years have received huge funds from across the border. Whether this is dirty money or a legitimate act, for the resistance camp to receive money from Pakistan that is a different debate. Apparently the flow of huge funds has destroyed the indigenous character of the movement. Since huge funds are received in the name of sufferers, what happens to these funds and how these are siphoned off, is the most relevant question?  
The sponsors of resistance in Kashmir have earmarked funds for, every killed, injured, even detained. It is not the space to discuss the ‘operational money’ but who has swindled the huge so called ‘relief fund’.  Provisions were made for onetime payment, which alone runs in crores, along with the recurring help for every widow, orphan or handicapped. In so called ‘movement’s interest’ the concerned authorities will empathically deny existence of such a system. However it can be said with a degree of responsibility that such an arrangement does exists since the advent of militancy. It’s a known fact within the knowledgeable circles in Kashmir.  The people claiming to be messiahs have not only failed to discharge their duties, but they have also proved to be scoundrels? What is the difference between a coffin seller and a person who dupes the money originally meant for dead and crippled young boys? And they claim to be fighting for the freedom?   Freedom fighters? They are petty thieves and not the freedom fighters. God forbid in case they happen to be the custodians of the public exchequer after Azadi, one can only imagine the level of loot. The people who can stoop so low to snatch the morsel of a widow or deny medicines to a sick during a freedom movement, how they will behave as rulers? Any guesses. 

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Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 5 Mar 2011 00:00:00 IST