Kashmir separatists reject Al Qaeda chief’s ‘shun-UN’ call

Just a few months ago when al QaedaSupremo Ayman al-Zawahri called for a Muslim coalition in liberating what he called are “occupied Muslim Lands” including Jammu and Kashmir, Zawahri was conditioning such an alliance to something that undercuts foundation of separatists struggle (both hardline and moderate) in Kashmir.

The outfit’s fresh call rejected the notion of nation states and the United Nation’s (UN) resolutions both that form the bedrock of separatists in Kashmir. All this, when another major player, Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban’s (TTP) has already expressed willingness to launch Jihad in Kashmir as well.

But how exactly are separatists reacting to it?

Separatists, such as powerful Hurriyat (G) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who spoke toTehelka, has rejected the Qaeda chief’s call saying over a dozen UN resolutions that call for a plebiscite under its auspices to end the conflict in the divided Himalayan region “is the best solution.”

“Ours is a non-violent struggle. We want non-violent solution of Kashmir dispute which is possible only by implementing UN resolutions on Kashmir,” the octogenarian leader says. “There is no other solution acceptable to us but UN resolutions. However, New Delhi is not sincere. It is continuously pushing Kashmiris towards the gun. It believes the occupation of Kashmir by its seven lakh soldiers is the solution. It’s new Delhi which is pushing for more violence,” he says.

Qaeda’s leader had rejected any UN role in arbitrating solutions to world disputes in a document that appeared on bab-ul-islam.net—an Urdu language website which often carries Zawahri’s messages after his take over of Qaeda affairs following the death of Osama Bin Laden in a US raid.

The document had also urged liberation of Muslim lands from ‘occupiers’ which he said included Palestine, Chechnya, Jammu and Kashmir, East Turkistan or Xinjiang in China, portions of Russia’s Caucasus region, and the Spanish-controlled Ceuta, Melilla in North Africa.

The UN’s formula for resolving Kashmir dispute is also present in the Hurriyat’s 1993 constitutional charter followed by both factions of the Hurriyat.

Speaking with Tehelka, Hurriyat (M) leader Maulana Abbas Ansari says that the Kashmir dispute can’t be solved through guns. “Mein bandook ka kayil kabhi nahi tha(I never supported guns). Weapons bring destruction. Gun has no role in Kashmir’s resolution. India and Pakistan both have failed to resolve Kashmir through guns,” he says.

The al Qaeda may have presence in places as far as Mali in Africa or Philippines in the South Pacific region, but despite being closest to al Qaeda’s sphere, whose leaders are mostly based in restive Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Kashmir never saw the group’s footprints in the Valley. And in a new twist, a top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Wali Ur Rehman, in a rare video produced by Umar Media, (the broadcasting arm of the TTP) has pledged to send his fighters to Kashmir — something that is completely unprecedented.

Tehelka sought comments from Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) ChairmanYasin Malik, who was among the first few youngsters to launch an armed rebellion against New Delhi’s rule in Kashmir but soon renounced guns in 1994 to establish a pro-Independence political party. Malik says: “UN is a body which has its members from across the world. You can’t live in isolation. Yes as a member, countries have every right to question the UN’s role. Its influence hasn’t been successful in many countries where people’s movement is underway. But you can’t avoid the UN. One can always knock at its doors and remind it of its role,” he says. “Even if it means hurling some stones on its windows,” he says jokingly. “Kashmir can’t avoid the UN.”