Targeting The Kashmiri Leadership

By Anil Nauriya

There has been a spate of politically motivated assassinations in Kashmir. On May 1, the J& K Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s nephew, Atiqullah was shot at in
Anantnag and died later. On May 3, Mohammad Ramzan Mian, Congressman and chairman of the Pattan Municipal Committee, was killed. On May 7 Abdul Rahim, a
Congress Block President was killed at Tangmarg.
The targeting of the traditional political leadership of Kashmir since 1989 has not been adequately analysed. Indian public opinion has been divided mainly between those whose
chief focus is on the fate of the Hindu, that is mainly the Kashmiri Pandits, and those who draw attention primarily to persons killed at the hands of the security forces. Both
were legitimate concerns. But the annihilation of the traditional Kashmiri Muslim leadership by terrorists did not fall into either category and went by default.

Ironically, with the rise of the Hindutva movement since 1989, large sections of minorities in the rest of India, especially in Modi-ruled Gujarat, were being labelled as anti-
national. On the other hand, the traditional Kashmiri Muslim leadership was being eliminated by the terrorist in J& K for the opposite reason : it was considered too pro-India .
Had this contrast been adequately reported and presented it could have compelled the Hindutva forces to question and reassess their own assumptions about the labelling of
large sections of minorities in India as anti-national.

The terrorists’ prime target during 1989-2002 was the National Conference (NC) though most parties participating in the electoral process were also at the receiving end. The
NC’s Block and Zonal presidents, candidates and legislators were especially targeted. In other words the NC organisational structure was being physically annihilated. 1 Those
standing for election for Local Self-Government bodies were also targeted. They are typified by the Doda Sarpanch, Gyassuddin, aged 72, and much respected by Muslims and
Hindus alike, who was killed after the 2001 Panchayat elections.

After the PDP-Congress government assumed power in 2002, the PDP cadres became a prime target as well though NC workers did not cease to be targeted. A rough estimate by
this writer suggests that that the killings of NC, PDP and Congress cadres have been underreported in the press. In a recent month three incidents were missed by the newspapers
before one got reported.

The first major attack on the PDP itself came on December 20, 2002 when Abdul Aziz Mir, the newly elected Pulwama MLA was shot dead. Thousands attended Mir’s funeral.
But few newspapers had even a profile of Mir. Attacks on PDP workers have continued and, going by published sources alone, around 30 have been eliminated .2
In the pre-2002 elections period for diverse reasons those concerned with public affairs did not highlight such killings, then largely of NC cadres. It is instructive to examine if
similar reasons apply in the case of reports on PDP killings in the post-2002 period.
The media had written off the NC as corrupt and often virtually ignored the killings of its cadres. Here it failed to distinguish politics from the political process. The loosely-
hurled corruption charge, even if true, could provide reason to vote a party out, but could not possibly justify journalistic nonchalance at the physical annihilation of partymen.
Besides, the killings of the NC cadres had little to do with their alleged corruption or their alleged inattention to developmental issues. The killers were not participating in an anti-
corruption movement.
The upshot was that of the hundreds of NC cadres killed in the period 1989-2002 not one obtained even an obituary in the national press. Many of them were popular leaders.
When Ghulam Hassan Mir, NC’s Khag Block Vice President, was shot dead on May 13, 1998, his funeral was attended by thousands of people. How could the annihilation of
such people be dismissed with a shrug? Assuming that NC ineptitude was a factor in the killings, this method of settling issues was not sufficiently condemned even by
international elements seeking to assert an interest in Kashmir. And in the post-2002 period also such an explanation would hardly gel in the PDP’s case.

Another reason given to explain either the NC killings themselves or why these did not receive adequate national attention was that the party lost sympathy after it aligned itself
with the BJP. This was untenable as the BJP-NC alliance was of relatively recent vintage while the terrorist targeting of NC cadres had been going on even prior to the NDA
regime at the Centre. And neither the past nor the subsequent allies of the NC had taken much notice of or publicly empathised with the NC in relation to its political
bereavements. The matter was seldom taken up in Parliament. In any case, the “wrong company” reasoning can hardly apply now to the killings of the PDP cadres.

Significantly, the Hurriyat which seeks involvement in Indo-Pakistan negotiations, seldom condemned the killings of NC or PDP cadres. It has seemed indifferent unless the
terrorist target was a member of the Hurriyat alliance itself. A week after Musharraf’s famous speech on January 12, 2002, one Hurriyat leader approvingly said “The boys with
the gun have done their duty. They have done the job by highlighting the movement. Now it is for the politicians to capitalise on it.”
The real reason for the targeting of the NC and now of the PDP is that these parties represent traditional Kashmiri Muslims who have stood for a modus vivendi within a
composite India. Individual annihilation as a method of politics must not be allowed to gain ground. The terrorists do not speak for Islam or for any major section of public
opinion within Kashmir. By eliminating the traditional Kashmiri Muslim leadership they simply seek to manufacture consent for some other undefined dispensation.
The notion of militancy implies the existence of a popular movement within which there is a militant section working for an object similar to that of the movement. However
these assassinations do not have such an appearance. It is doubtful if popular opinion in Kashmir could ever empathise with the annihilation of the traditional Kashmiri Muslim
leadership in the state. This aspect of the Kashmir scene needs to be emphasised not only in India but also abroad including the Islamic countries.
Appendix
PDP workers killed since the party came to power in Jammu & Kashmir

(1) Abdul Aziz Mir, the newly elected MLA from Pampore in Pulwama district was shot dead, 20.12.02.
(2) Abdul Razaq Rather shot dead, Kulgam. 9.4.03
(3) Abdul Hamid Mir, shot dead, Pulwama, 20.5.03
(4) Mohd Abdullah , shot dead, Anantnag , 8.7.03.
(5) Ghulam Mohd Ganai of Frestabal , a PDP Zonal President, was fired upon and killed., 3.11.03.
(6) Zulfikar Ali, shot and killed in Anantnag 6.11.03.
(7) Haider Ali, abducted from Malganipora; body recovered 7.11.03.
(8) Ghulam Rasool Wagoora ,shot at and killed at Awantipora in Pulwama district 9.11.03
(9) Mohammad Ismail Khanday , shot dead Anantnag district 16.11.03.
(10) Ghulam Rasool Hajam, fired upon and killed 22.12.03.
(11) Mohammad Yousuf Bhat kidnapped earlier, body recovered Pulwama district mid-February 2004
(12) Ghulam Mohd Dar, a Block President, shot dead Budgam district, 16.2.04.
(13) Ali Mohd Bhat, shot dead, Budgam district, 16.2.04.
(14) Assadullah Bhat ,shot dead, Anantnag, 11.4.04.
(15) Ghulam Qadir, killed in grenade attack, Sopore, 10.5.04.
(16) Ghulam Mohiuddin Nigroo, shot dead Anantnag district 2.6.04.
(17) and
(18) Abdul Rehman Mir and Sonaullah Paddar both dragged out of their houses in Anantnag district, shot dead 4.6.04.
(19) Shamim Ahmed Bhat, shot dead Anantnag,15.6.04
(20) Saifullah Khan, shot dead, Anantnag, 6.7.04.
(21) Hilal Ahmed Khan, shot dead, Anantnag , 21.7.04.
(22) Nazir Ahmed Lone, a cousin of Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjoora, a PDP MLC, shot dead, Budgam district 8.9.04
(23) Ghulam Mohiuddin Chechoo, also a member of the Gujjar and Backerwal Board, kidnapped and killed 1.10.04
(24) Nazir Ahmad Raina, shot dead, 3.11.04
(25) Abdul Gani Wani, 70, dragged out of his house ,Anantnag district, killed on 18.12.04
(26) Ghulam Rasool Khan killed in a grenade attack, 4.1.05;
(27) Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir killed , Beerwah, 8.2.05; he had been elected unopposed to the Beerwah municipal committee.
(28) Muzaffar Ahmed Wani, body perforated with bullets recovered, Anantnag,first week, April 2005
(29) The Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayed’s nephew, Atiqullah Shah shot , Anantnag, 1 .5.05 and died on the following day.

1
This writer documented some of these killings upto July 2002 (See Mainstream, New Delhi, August 17,
2002) and some of the killings of NC workers between August and October 2002 (See Janata, Bombay,
October 20, 2002). The article in Janata contains also a section on terrorist killings of political figures
other than those belonging to the National Conference.