Hurriyat faces a credibility crisis
pressed the Indian National Congress to call off the movement, which it did on Feb 12.
If it is too much to expect the Hurriyat to call off its separatist agitation in response to the murder in Kulgam, the leadership could — should — have condemned the killings vociferously. The announcement of a Valley-wide expression of mourning would not have been untoward. But the Hurriyat did no such thing.
Nor was it able to muster any outrage last week, when another Kashmiri, Ummer Fayaz, was abducted from his cousin’s wedding in Shopian, and assassinated — again, police say, by Hizbul Mujahedin. The fact that Fayaz was a lieutenant in the Indian Army seems to have made him unworthy of the Hurriyat’s sympathy.
Condemnation of these killings would not have weakened the Hurriyat; it might have gained credibility for its claim to represent all Kashmiris. Not only to these omissions undermine the Hurriyat’s claim to the moral high ground in the Valley, its silence emboldens groups like the Hizbul Mujahedin to pursue their own agenda. One manifestation of this was the threat by Hizb commander Zakir Rashid Bhat to behead Hurriyat leaders, for describing their movement as a political struggle, rather than a religious war for an Islamic state.
On this occasion, Bhat was expelled from the group, but Malik and his fellow leaders of the Hurriyat will likely watch their backs, and their tongues, from now on.
The Hurriyat leadership often compares the condition of Kashmir to that of Palestine. Having spent time in both , I can attest that there are few similarities. But the leadership of the Kashmiri separatists do have one thing in common with their Palestinian counterparts: in the words of an Israeli statesman, “they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”
Already this month, they’ve missed two.