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Updates
- Hizb chief echos Geelani’s stand on Amarnath yatra (Sept 4, 2012)
- Amarnath Yatra is a military project, says Geelani, calls bandh (Sept 3, 2012)
Hizb chief echos Geelani’s stand on Amarnath yatra
September 4, 2012
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) : A day after Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani alleged that the Union government was trying to change the demography of the Valley by promoting the Amarnath pilgrimage, he was joined by Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin, bringing them on the same page on any issue for the first time.
Agreeing with Geelani, POK-based Salahuddin, who is also the chief of United Jihad Council, said the government of India was sending non-local labourers and increasing number of pilgrims for Amarnath every year so as to eventually make the area Hindu majority. Salahuddin alleged that the Islamic character of Kashmir is being diluted by issuing state subject certificates to outsiders.
"Adopting certain design, non-local labourers from other parts of India are being settled in Jammu & Kashmir to change its demography. Many state subject certificates have been issued to non-locals in Baramulla district," Salahudin told a Srinagar-based news agency on telephone from POK.
Calling for limiting the number of Amarnath yatris visiting the cave shrine every year, Salahuddin said the increasing number of pilgrims, setting up of permanent infrastructure for them along with increasing interference of non-local labourers in private and public sector, was an indication of the government’s plans to change the Muslim majority character of J&K. He said manipulation in the figures of the census by the government is a step towards changing the demography of the state.
He said the death of Amarnath yatris is natural in view of the difficult terrain and hostile climatic conditions. This, he said, could be reduced if the number of yatris is brought down.
"The saffron brigade including the BJP is trying to make an issue out of this to pave the way for changing the Muslim majority character of the state. We will raise voice against such designs and any move to settle non-state subjects in will be resisted," he said.
Incongruously, however, Salahuddin also said Hizbul wasn’t against any religion in particular, which he said is evident from the fact that Kashmiris have facilitated smooth yatra of the yatris.
Salahuddin also criticized the setting up of railway lines and constructing roads and tunnels terming it a conspiracy by the "government of India" to extend its military infrastructure in the state. He added that although India and Pakistan were working for better relations, peace will elude the subcontinent if the Kashmir issue was not resolved.
Confidence building measures like cross-LoC trade, people-to-people contact, etc., are futile, he said. "The situation in the state in volcanic and it can erupt any time. India is trying to establish its supremacy in the region by ignoring the sacrifices of Kashmiris", he said.
Source : TOI
Amarnath Yatra is a military project, says Geelani, calls bandh
September 3, 2012
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) : Terming the annual Amarnath Yatra as a “military project to strengthen the Indian occupation” of Kashmir, Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for shutdown on September 4 to protest against the “politicization of Yatra”.
“Amarnath Yatra is going on for the past 145 years. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are not against it. Instead they host these pilgrims and will continue to do so,” Geelani said at a press conference in Srinagar. “But now India has given it (yatra) the shape of a military project to continue the Indian occupation of Kashmir.”
This is for the first time since the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation that the separatists have vehemently spoken against what they call the sudden increase in the number of Amarnath pilgrims visiting the holy cave shrine in the mountains of south Kashmir. The separatist tirade has come after the apex court directed the government to construct a road to the cave shrine and create infrastructure for the pilgrims.
Geelani said that the number of Amarnath pilgrims to the valley has increased under a definite plan from the government. “People from across India are advised to visit Kashmir (for the yatra),” he said. “(This is done) so that Kashmiris are intimidated and given to believe that India is not going to leave them.”
Geelani based his arguments on an article published on the website of Press Information Bureau in 2008. “The urge to salvation will attract the devotees towards the challenging heights of Kashmir. Because this would also be an act of solidarity with our brave soldiers who are at war with the enemy to guard our border,” Geelani quoted the article. The Hurriyat leader also quoted from A G Noorani’s article that terms the yatra as “communal aggression devoid of any religious piety”.
The Hurriyat hardliner said that the yatra has been politicised by the Indian government. “Earlier it was just a religious ritual,” the Hurriyat chief said. “But now, in the name of yatra, India is doing politics.”
Terming the increase in the number of Amarnath pilgrims as a question of survival, Geelani said that Amarnath Shrine Board has been given immense powers. “The Board that has been set-up to facilitate the yatra has been given such powers that it acts as a state within the state,” he said. “Shrine Board works like East India Company. Its entire staff is from outside.”
Source : Indian Express
