New
Age Islam Special Correspondent
21 May 2019
The ‘Hafta-e-Shahadat’,
also known as ‘Hafta-e-Shuhada’ (the week of martyrs)—the anniversary of
Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Farooq or ‘Shaheed-e-Millat’—commenced from May 18 in
the valley of Kashmir. The Awami Action Committee (AAC) has called for complete
shutdown on May 21 to commemorate the occasion.
On May 18,
the ‘Hafta-e-Shahadat’ commenced with the recitation of holy Qur’an at all
district and Tehsil headquarters of the party amid special prayers for the
‘Shaheed-e-Millat’ Mirwaiz Maulvi Mohammad Farooq, who was brutally murdered on
May, 2, 1990, at his residence in Srinagar. On this occasion, the
Anjuman-e-Auqaf Jamia Masjid also organised a competition for the Qur’an
recitation (Muqabal-e-Husn-e-Qira’at) at the historic Jama Masjid.
On May 19,
the Hurriyat Conference (M) organised a seminar at its Rajbagh headquarters
wherein the Hurriyat leaders paid tributes to ‘Shaheed-e-Millat’,
‘Shaheed-e-Hurriyat’ and martyrs of Hawal massacre. On May 20 today,
Anjuman-e-Nusratul Islam organised a seminar at the auditorium of Islamia
Higher Secondary School Rajouri Kadal under the title “Amal Say Zindagi
Banti Hai Jannat Bhi, Jahannam Bhi”. On this occasion, a special issue of
‘Shaheed-e-Millat’ number 2019 has also been released.
Having
organized all that, what the Hurriyat and other commemorators of the
‘Hafta-e-Shahadat’ have consciously or unconsciously missed out is the
self-appraisal about the brutal assassination of the top leaders of the
Hurriyat conference. This occasion of the ‘Hafta-e-Shahadat’ must open
the conglomerate to introspection and self-assessment on these questions:
Can anyone
among them do an independent review of the gruesome assassination of ‘Shaheed-e-Millat’
without blindly accepting the dictates of Pakistan’s army or ISI
(Inter-Services Intelligence)? How many hidden truths such as this are lingering
in the political closet of the separatist leadership in the valley? What is the
attitude of the separatist leaders towards the security of the region at a time
when the criminality of terrorists gets exposed?
On May 21,
a complete shutdown will be observed across Kashmir in memory of
‘Shaheed-e-Millat’, ‘Shaheed-e-Hurriyat’, martyrs of Hawal massacre and all
other martyrs of Kashmir and a congregational Fatiha Khawani will be
held at martyrs’ graveyard Eidgah. Eventually, the Hurriyat leaders, as usual,
will again take a pledge to carry on the ‘peaceful struggle’ for the right to
‘self-determination’. They would again call all such gruesome murders as a
‘state-sponsored conspiracy’ to derail the ‘armed struggle’.
But
regrettably, no one would tell the common people in Jammu & Kashmir about
the real culprits and terrorists who crush down every voice of reason in the
valley. In 2011, almost two decades after the assassination of the Mirwaiz, the
prominent Hurriyat leader, Abdul Ghani Bhatt, admitted that the killing of many
Kashmiri leaders, including the Mirwaiz, Abdul Ghani Lone, his own brother
Mohammad Bhatt and Professor Wani was the handiwork of terrorists. "Lone
sahib, Mirwaiz Farooq and Prof. Wani were not killed by the army or the police.
They were targeted by our own people. The story is a long one, but we have, to
tell the truth," he said.
This
admittance was corroborated by the facts brought out by Wikileaks which said
that ISI had a direct hand in the killing of prominent personalities in
Kashmir. Wikileaks quoted a US cable as saying that an Al Qaeda terrorist
arrested in 2002 had given this information when interrogated. Notably, the
targets in India, according to the terrorist, were chosen by the Pakistani
Army. This acknowledgment sent shock waves outside the valley, but the common
Kashmiri people have been kept in the darkness about all this, as the
separatist leaders continue to mislead them to achieve their own political
interests. They are just offered the beautiful recitation of Quran and special
payers to mark the commencement of “Hafta-e-Shadat”, while being left in the
lurch about the real motives behind the
death of slain Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Farooq and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone and victims of Hawal
massacre of May 21, 1990.
Even the
Islamic clerics, Imams and other prominent local leaders do not seem fully
aware of how Islamic leaders are misused and sometimes brutally killed if they
speak out the truth. In this ongoing ‘Hafta-e-Shahadat’ too, a large number of
imams of various mosques have participated in the Husn-e-Qirat Mehfil organised
by the Anjunam-e-Auqaf Jamia Masjid along with the Hurriyat members and
workers. According to their statement, the Qur’an recitation competition was
held with the sole aim of attracting children towards the better recitals and
understanding of Qur’an and its teachings. The Qur’an recitation programme
assumes more significance owing to the month of Ramazan which is the same month
in which holy Qur’an was revealed upon the beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). As a
result, great enthusiasm was shown on this occasion from several madrasas and
their rectors including the Madrasa Kanzul Uloom Ganderbal, Darul Uloom
Dawoodiya Srinagar, Sa’adatul Quran Nagabal, Darasgah Farooqiya Hawal, Srinagar
among others. The prominent Islamic clerics of the valley who participated in
the event included the Imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid Srinagar Maulana
Syed Ahmed Naqashbandi, Mufti Muhammad Abdullah Qasimi, Maulana Inayatullah,
Mufti Ghulam Rasool Samoon, Muhammad Yasin Shah and Molvi Altaf Ahmed. This was
perhaps the biggest function to pay tributes to ‘Shaheed-e-Millat’, ‘Shaheed-e-Hurriyat’
and martyrs of Hawal massacre. Mirwaiz distributed prizes among the children
who won the Qur’an recitation competition.
But the
worrying fact of this Husn-e-Qir’at programme is that students of Hifz
from various Kashmiri madrasas and Darul Ulooms, who participate in it having
memorized the entire Qur’an by heart at a tender age, are susceptible to the
misinformation being promulgated on these occasions.
On April
2011, a similar brutal murder of a religious leader—Maulana Shaukat Ahmed, the
soft-spoken, 55-year-old chief of the Jamiat-e-Ahli-Hadees (JAH)—was witnessed.
Maulana was a man of conviction who did not hesitate from speaking out his
mind. He held pro-freedom views but was also very vocal against all forms of
violence in the valley. Therefore, he openly denounced stone pelting and other
such disruptive activities as completely “un-Islamic”. He also issued Fatwas
against the acts of violence in Kashmir. Unfortunately, he faced the ire of the
separatist leaders like Syed Geelani and other terrorist organisations. But
ironically, after Maulana’s gruesome assassination, conspiracy theories from
the separatist leaders abounded. Geelani said the killing was “the handiwork of
the anti-Kashmiri and anti-Islam elements”. Significantly, Maulana Shaukat
Ahmed was the first to demand an inquiry into the killings of Mirwaiz Farooq
and Abdul Ghani Lone. It was as a follow-up to his statements that Abdul Ghani
Bhat openly said that these leaders had been killed by “our own men”.
This ‘Hafta-e-Shahadat’
is the prime time for the Hurriyat and all separatist outfits to turn inward
and introspect. The commemoration should not be confined to only the
valley-wide Husn-e-Qirat Mehfil. While the Awami Action Committee calls
shutdown on May 21, the more needful to do is an honest and candid exposition
of the hidden truths in the killings of Kashmir. There was a deafening silence
from the separatist leaders when the Hurriyat leaders were mercilessly killed
by the terrorists back in 1990. Much damage has already been done and a huge
price will be extracted once again if the truth is not told. Most of the
Kashmir carnages are direct or indirect result of a plethora of misinformation
being spread by vested interests bred by the foreign forces.
9:43 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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