Dost Khan
JAMMU: Burning of schools is perhaps necessary for separatists, as educated youth won’t take their diktat of indulging in protests or pelting stones, which keeps their enterprise flourishing in the Valley. This is why Madrassas have neither been brought under the purview of shut-downs nor damaged, as these produce indoctrinated and radicalised youth, who readily become cannon fodder for separatists and Pakistani lackeys.
Hypocrisy of Kashmiri separatists touched lowest and meanest depths when grand-daughter of Hurriyat hawk Ali Shah Geelani appeared for her term exam at Indoor Stadium in Srinagar amid tight security. The bizarre event unfolds two harsh realities that poor Kashmiris have never tried to understand during the past twenty-seven years. One, the little girl appeared in the examination notwithstanding her grand-father Geelani Qalender renewing shut-down calendar till November 3 and second, the old secessionist having no objection to para-military forces and policemen guarding the examination centre of her granddaughter, who remain prime target of his radicalised protesters and stone- pelters.
Shouldn’t this gruesome fact of Nayeem Geelani’s daughter serve as eye-opener to thousands of Kashmiri parents whose children have now almost forgotten what schools and exams mean, as these stand shut due to whims of semi-literate Ali Geelani? This should particularly be a reminder to parents of over twenty schools which have been razed to ground after being put aflame by the Qalander’s Mujahids.
Can’t an average poor Kashmiri father afford even to think how Geelani’s medico son thinks? Dr Nayeem Geelani says, “Once the school decided to hold the internal exams, it was mandatory for my daughter, like other students, to appear as they carried a weightage of 70 per cent marks. If my daughter had skipped the exams, she wouldn’t have been able to sit for the final exams scheduled for next March.”
The people of Kashmir have a right, which they may or may not exercise due to coercion and intimidation, to ask their Qalender Geelani whether his granddaughter’s school only deserved the concession of relaxation and no other school which is alma-mater of poor Kashmiri like Sulla and Gulla. (Sorry for deforming names of proud poor Kashmiris but the fact remains that Syed Geelani like people considers them as their slaves and their children as cannon fodder).
It may be just a coincidence that the day the news about Geelani’s granddaughter appearing for exam became public, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at separatists for not allowing schools in the Valley to function, blaming them of not allowing the new generation, especially those belonging to poor strata of society to get educated and instead wanting them to turn as stone pelters for being used as cannon fodder. But, the mainstream politicians too have remained party to atrocious treatment meted out to Kashmiris. Didn’t PDP eulogise stone-pelters and separatists’ agitation in 2010 when out of power. They did but the compulsion for their leaders now is remain quiet for the simple fact of donning the mantle of government. Therefore, the role of PDP has now taken over by National Conference, which has questioned the rationale in holding examinations. NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah is on record having stated, “Government is threatening students to appear in exams at a time when educational institutions remained shut for more than three and a half months. Students are not ready to sit in exams scheduled in November.” Has he or any other leader of the so-called mainstream political outfits courage to ask Geelani how his granddaughter appeared in the examination and others were being forced to remain indoors, or to pelt stones, or to get injured by pelt guns? He better to do it now, so must the leaders of Congress and others, who retain the mandate of people and despite that promote the cause of separatists as it applies balm to their wounds of remaining out of power.
What Geelani’s granddaughter has done is not unexpected. The kith and kin of separatists and Pakistan stooges have been flourishing and pursuing greener pastures away from the burning Kashmir while children of poor Kashmiris are being made to rehabilitate martyrs’ graveyards across the Valley. These poor people have never ever thought why Geelani’s son should carry on with his glamourous position of being a doctor, or for that matter Syed Sallah-ud-Din’s sons to remain employees of Jammu and Kashmir Government, while their own children must suffer, die, get wounded, blinded and imprisoned to run Pakistan’s enterprise.
In normal circumstances and for a conscious society like Kashmiris, the single ‘flip-flop’ of Geelani’s granddaughter should have been a game-changer in the charged and boiling Valley but the perpetrators of violence know how to control the damage. They will describe it yet another ‘misinformation campaign’ unleashed by Indian agencies, no matter the father of the girl admitting the fact. However, there is always scope for better sense to prevail and if so happens, the streets of the Valley, which are echoing with anti-state chants will see a terse message being delivered at the Hyderpora, Nigeen and Maisuma residences of anti-Kashmiri agents, saying enough is enough.
