Poll slide continues,separatists flounder in Valley

Since the massive turnout in the recent Assembly elections in Kashmir in defiance of the Hurriyat's boycott call,separatism in the Valley is in a drift. From a resurgent coalition spearheading the Azadi groundswell through summer of 2008,the separatist space is now conspicuous by its absence.

Since the massive turnout in the recent Assembly elections in Kashmir in defiance of the Hurriyat’s boycott call,separatism in the Valley is in a drift. From a resurgent coalition spearheading the Azadi groundswell through summer of 2008,the separatist space is now conspicuous by its absence.

While elections are one reason,the absence of most of the major separatist leaders from the political scene in the Valley is also a factor in the vacuum prevailing in Kashmir.

Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is weighing his options about attending a one-year fellowship programme at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University in conflict management and leadership. The only hitch is his passport,which remains impounded.

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Ailing Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani is in New Delhi for medical treatment and has no immediate plans to return to the Valley. JKLF supremo Yaseen Malik is in Pakistan where he got married on February 22.

As for another active Hurriyat leader,Shabir Shah,he continues to be behind bars on charges of instigating protests in the Valley and leading a Srinagar-Muzaffarabad march in July,2008 which led to the death of seven people.

The Hurriyat Coordination Committee,a loose accord between the two Hurriyat factions and other major leaders outside the Hurriyat fold,is all but defunct. Its calls for marches across the Valley just last summer had got thousands out on the streets in response. However,the successful Assembly polls,including in the militancy stronghold of Bandipore,saw the slide begin.

Apart from the fact that the separatists now don’t have that forum to rally protestors,there is no longer any active contact between the two Hurriyat factions as well,putting talks on an eventual merger indefinitely on hold.

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