Militants, not govt forces, killed top separatist leaders, admits ex-Hurriyat chief

A senior Hurriyat leader has created a flutter by saying that two separatist leaders and his own brother were killed by "our own people" and not the security forces, prompting the government of Jammu & Kashmir to term it a "late admission" and call for an inquiry to fix responsibility.

"No police was involved [in the killings].... It was our own people who killed them," Abdul Gani Bhat, who once chaired the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, said.

He said time had come to speak the truth about the killers of mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, who was killed 21 years ago, Abdul Gani Lone, who was shot dead in 2002, and his own brother Mohammad Sultan Bhat, who was murdered in 1995.

Asked to identify the killers, Bhat said, "What is the need to identify them? They are already identified."

Farooq, father of the present chief of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was shot dead at his residence on May 21, 1990, while Lone, father of Hurriyat executive member Bilal Lone, was gunned down during a commemorative rally for the senior mirwaiz on the same day in 2002.

The separatists had earlier blamed the security forces for the killings.

Bhat said his brother Mohammad Sultan Bhat also fell to the bullets of those espousing the separatist cause.

"I had said this then and I am saying it now. There is no ambiguity or confusion in my mind," he said.

Other moderate Hurriyat leaders chose to maintain a studied silence on Bhat's remarks.

The state government has held that then Hizbul Mujahideen commander Mohammad Abdullah Bangroo had killed mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq while a commander of al-Umar Mujahideen had shot dead the senior Lone.

The Hizbul Mujahideen is believed to be ideologically inclined towards hardline Hurriyat faction leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani while al-Umar is believed to be the armed wing of the Awami Action Committee headed by the mirwaiz.

Geelani refused to comment on the statements made by the former chief of the undivided Hurriyat Conference.

"I have nothing to say about their remarks," Geelani told the Press Trust of India.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary MY Tarigami said Bhat's statement was "revealing" and the incidents need credible investigation.

"A credible investigation should be carried out so that responsibility for the killings is fixed," Tarigami said.

Sajjad Gani Lone, youngest son of the slain leader, had blamed Geelani for the killing but retracted his statement a few years later.

Jammu & Kashmir's director general of police Kuldeep Khoda said, "The person involved in the killing of mirwaiz Farooq is also buried in the same 'martyrs graveyard' where the senior mirwaiz was laid to rest.

"So this explains a lot. The killer and the killed are both declared martyrs by them."

A senior Hurriyat leader, who did not wish to be named, said there was nothing new in Bhat's remarks.

"Bhat has made the same speech in the 'Azad Jammu & Kashmir' [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir] assembly five years ago," he said.

Bilal Lone and the mirwaiz chose not to react to the statement.

A source in the Hurriyat Conference said the leaders of the amalgam will maintain a "meaningful" silence on the remarks.

The moderate faction of the Hurriyat is unhappy with the way Geelani handled the recent summer unrest in the Kashmir valley as many of them questioned the tactics of strikes and stone-pelting during a seminar yesterday.

State law and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Mohammad Sagar described the admission by separatists as a 'good development'.

"It has taken them very long to admit the reality, but it is better late than never," Sagar said.

He said the separatist leaders have to be "realistic" if they are serious about resolving the Kashmir issue and should stop treating the mainstream parties as "untouchables".

"We have to sit together if the Kashmir issue has to be resolved permanently. The separatists should support and strengthen the efforts of chief minister Omar Abdullah in this direction," he said.

In response to a question about unity efforts among the separatists, Bhat said they were "irrelevant" at the moment and he would decide about it in his individual capacity if such a development takes place.

"I have never been part of and never will be part of any meaningless exercise. Why are you flogging us with the unity lash?" the Hurriyat leader said.

The Hurriyat Conference split vertically in September 2003 after Geelani accused Bhat and other moderate leaders of not running an effective anti-election campaign during the 2002 assembly polls when he was in jail.

Geelani also accused the People's Conference headed by Bilal and Sajjad Lone of participating in the assembly elections through proxy candidates.

Meanwhile, condemning Bhat's statement, radical women's
outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat said, "Bhat and Lone are out to sabotage the movement."

"The true leadership of Kashmir is put behind bars and they are not even allowed to put forth their point of view before the people. Holding seminars is a far cry," acting Dukhtaran leader Rifat Fatima said in a statement.

Kashmiris are now educated enough to differentiate between the genuine leaders and impostors, she said.