India is eliminating the heirs of Kashmir’s freedom struggle
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Yasin Malik was given a life sentence last week on the charges of funding terrorism and involvement in criminal activities. For 28 years, he tried to create reconciliation between Delhi and Kashmir. Labelling him a traitor is anything but true. As a matter of fact, after 9/11, Yasin and many like him became the fodder for India’s terrorism narrative that painted the freedom struggle of Kashmiris as an act of terrorism. The ruthless laws of Kashmir did the rest of the dirty work.
The turning point in the violent history of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was the election of 1987. Yasin Malik, a young boy then, was one of the polling agents overseeing election activities under the banner of the newly formed opposition party, the Muslim United Front. The rigging done under his nose stirred a realization in him and his other compatriots that the Delhi government was setting the stage to usurp the autonomy of Kashmir. They were worried that if things were taken lying down, it would become an unstoppable trend leading to the annexation of Kashmir to India. As a result, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), of which Malik was a member, decided to take up arms against the state.
The JKLF was founded in 1977 by Pakistan-based Amanullah Khan and Maqbool Butt. The initial agenda of this ‘nationalist’ group was to seek independence rather than merge with Pakistan. The JKLF leaders were known by the acronym HAJY, standing for Hamid Sheikh, Ashfaq Majid Wani, Javed Mir, and Yasin Malik. The group’s first act of militancy was carried out in 1988 with a bomb attack in Srinagar on July 13. This was the beginning of the separatist insurgency that has raged in the region for three decades. JKLF had also been involved in the high profile kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union home minister, Mufti Sayeed. The release of Rubaiya, kidnapped on December 5, 1989, was linked to the setting free of five incarcerated Kashmiri rebels, including JKLF leader Hamid Sheikh. On December 13, 1989, Rubaiya was released, and so were the rebels.
The last two nails in the coffin of Kashmir proved to be first Kargil and later the Mumbai attack in 2008. Both incidents emboldened India enough to throw the Pakistani factor out of the Kashmir equation and seal its fate forever in favor of India in August 2019.
Durdana Najam
JKLF’s strong position of having an independent Kashmir had left a bad taste in the mouth of Pakistan’s leadership. It is commonly believed that Pakistan had a hand in breaking JKLF into groups to dilute its independent Kashmir narrative. Having become disillusioned with the breakup of the JKLF, which was no more the one that had inspired Yasin, he decided to renounce militancy and adopt the Gandhian way of non-violence in 1994. This change of heart was probably induced by a shift in the regional and international mood in which Kashmir had become a second thought. Another reason could be Pakistan’s withdrawal of financial support, leaving the group with outdated weapons to face the state’s massive oppression. In fact, despite his close contacts with the Pakistan establishment, he was not happy with its interference in the Kashmir freedom struggle.
Yasin is quoted saying in a gathering during one of his visits to Muzaffarabad that Azad Kashmir leaders were largely responsible for the death of 80,000 Kashmiris. He opposed romanticizing the freedom struggle and was offended to see the leaders of AJK and those who matter in the Kashmir freedom movement sidelined when peace talks were held between Pakistan and India on Kashmir. Such hard-hitting statements however, did not sit well with Pakistan. The acrimony grew further when Yasin started defending Kashmiri pandits and went on a hunger strike to help them get their legitimate rights.
Yasin was never in favor of putting the garb of religion on their freedom struggle, and neither did he ever see himself as a holy warrior. However, popular sentiments, particularly in the valley, were close to Yasin’s ideology. The Kashmiris were seeking freedom from economic and political oppression. Unfortunately, despite enjoying widespread support, the JKLF was unable to give direction to the movement due to a lack of weapons, military strategy, and India and Pakistan’s reluctance to involve Kashmiri leadership in their bilateral discussion on Kashmir. The last two nails in the coffin of Kashmir proved to be first Kargil and later the Mumbai attack in 2008. Both incidents emboldened India enough to throw the Pakistani factor out of the Kashmir equation and seal its fate forever in favor of India in August 2019.
Though Yasin had renounced militancy, had shown concern for dialogue, and went as far as supporting the idea of having a socially and politically inclusive Kashmir, he was first ostracized and later implicated in a false case for no other reason but India’s decision to eliminate every heir of Kashmir’s freedom struggle.
– Durdana Najam is an oped writer based in Lahore. She writes on security and policy issues.
Twitter: @durdananajam
