By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
In an encounter with Mumtaz Alam Falahi of TwoCircles.net senior Kashmiri leader and chief of a faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Gilani talks about recently held J& K Assembly elections, division of Hurriyat Conference and peaceful solution to Kashmir issue.
You had given a call for boycott of recently concluded Assembly election but people voted in good number. Does it mean your boycott call failed?
No, people boycotted the election. The election was held in the shadow of Army. There are already eight lakh armed personnel in the state. For the elections additional 600 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed. In a small state of Jammu and Kashmir, elections were held in seven stages. How can such elections be described as fair? Those boycotted the election were lathi-charged, teargas was used and a college student named Muzaffar Mushtaque Ganai was killed in police firing in Pulwama. So you cannot say the boycott was rejected by the people.
Peaceful solution to Kashmir issue
Peaceful solution is that people there should be given their fundamental right of self determination. Until that right is given to people, the disputed status of the state will remain. And so people will continue their struggle for the right.
Armed forces and people
The armed forces are responsible for the killings that have taken place so far in the state. As long the Indian Armed forces are there, the people will be just sufferer. People will continue to be killed for no crime of theirs, they will be imprisoned, they will be tortured in interrogation cells, their women and girls will be physically assaulted, Public Safety Act will be grossly misused, special powers given to armed forces will be misused. These things are normal there. If one thinks that after elections situation will change, it is just contrary to the ground realities.
On division on Hurriyat Conference
It doesn’t matter if we are one group or divided in various groups. We are united on one point: right to self determination. All Kashmiri people that include Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists want the right to self determination. And no Kashmiri group has any difference on this count.