No two situations can be compared. Here are  four, and the public response was different in all the four situations : the siege of Hazratbal shrine in 1993 and 1996;  burning  down of the shrine of Charar-e- Sharief  in 1995  and  now the mysterious fire in the  Peer Dastrgir Sahib’s  shrine.  There is a common knowledge  that what happened when and who did what in all these four cases.  Two situations in Hazaratbal shrine were different. In 1993, there was a mass fury over the occupation of the shrine by militants and siege laid by the army. There were tragic consequences.  More  than 46 precious lives were lost  on a  single day (  37 in the South Kashmir town of Bijbehra in  firing by Border Security Force  on a procession, killing 37 of them wounding dozens of others, and nine others were killed in Srinagar city, mostly in Nawakadal area). The day was October 22- first Friday after the siege was laid around the shrine  on October 15-16 might., 1993. And the biggest thing was that time, the united Hurriyat Conference was powerful, effective and had  some elements of reason. Those who  called shots, gave a call for  indefinite strike. The result was that  there was a complete shutdown for 37 days throughout the Valley, it was Hurriyat Conference, then led by Mirwaiz Hurriyat Conference,  which gave calls and extended the strikes and the people  obliged.  Now that Hurriyat Conference is divided into three major  portions. That is an open chapter for all to read.
There is no point in visiting the history, how the Hurriyat Conference, betrayed itself and its own  ideology and how egos never melted and the result is that now it is trying to seek relevance  by adopting one after  another tactics.  Nevertheless, it retains the symbolism of  separatism. There are  individual separatists and semi-separatists, but when it comes to talking about  talking to some one, it’s the Hurriyat Conference alone. The November 15, 1993 when militants vacated the shrine, the  Valley  had seen a turn around.  It became conscious of its own limitations and also that of the militants and the  militant leadership, irrespective of the fact whose  hands were guiding them, if the government is to be believed, from across the border. That leaves little scope for the  imagination.
Hazratbal two : March 1996:  By this time, much  had changed.   It was not the Hurriyat Conference  that was calling shots,  though its relevance stayed. It were new groups- Pan Islamic Groups, like Harkat-ul-Ansar, that had started making its presence felt  It launched a campaign  to get the  bunkers around the white marbled and the most revered shrine of the Kashmiri Muslims – Hazratbal. Others followed. But the Hurriyat Conference gathered the courage and  chided HuA for linking of the bunkers around the shrine as a motive to disrupt the Amarnath pilgrimage. Never before  any threat was  made vis-à-vis  Amarnath pilgrimage. Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen, too distanced itself from HUA’s call. The militants who attempted to  barge their entry into the  Hazratbal shrine were chased by the police guards. Those attempting to occupy the shrine was killed. There was something more  than  what appeared on the ground. But there was a clear indication  that something had changed.. There were no  long periods of “hartals” ( general strikes) nor curfews and not many protests.
In between, May 1995, to be precise, Charar-Sharief  was burnt. Who did that and why, the answers appeared only few days later that too in Peshhawar  in Pakistan, where  Mastgul, which had become the  icon of the resistance in Kashmir, because it were his men who had  occupied the town, was  given a rousing reception.  The Indian army had laid siege of the town.  But when it  was asked: why  the shrine and  town were not saved  and how come Mastgul and his men   were able to  escape, the answer by the then Corps Commander of  15 corps was baffling: “ neither  army was there to protect the town and the shrine nor  it was there to  check Mastgul.
On  June 25, the  Valley worked to another sad news that the revered  shrine of Peer  Dastgeer was  burnt, many feared the worst, but the  way situation was handled  by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, demonstrated that  there were ways to  do the things.  And to borrow  Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s words, separatists played a “constructive role” this time. The question that arises is,  can’t separatists and mainstream leaders play the same constructive role  in resolving  other issues, without the tragic backdrop of a gutted shrine.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 3 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST