JKNT
Srinagar, October 11 ( JKNT) The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front ( JKLF) chief Mohammad Yasin Malik , it is widely understood, stands for “ independence of Jammu and Kashmir from both India and Pakistan,” but now clear attempts are being made to Pakistanise him and his ideology through his family, currently in Pakistan.
Yasin Malik had collected thousands of signatures of Kashmiris supporting his idea of “ azadi”- freedom, which excludes India and Pakistan and asserts “inalienable right “ of the people of Jammu and Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control that divides the erstwhile princely state between India and Pakistan.
The concept of “ Azadi” for Kashmiris was unheard of till late 1980s. It had replaced effectively the slogan of “ Kashmir banega Pakistan” ( Kashmir will become Pakistan) . It was coined by ISI before Pakistan promoted and sponsored the armed militancy in Kashmir Valley as it had been made aware of the fact that Kashmiris were not enamoured of Pakistan any more.
A news report in Dawn newspaper today shows PPP Senator Rehman Malik presenting a duppatta emblazoned with Pakistani national flag of green-white colour with crescent to Yasin Malik’s wife Mishal Malik with a story in which former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari is quoted as appealing to the world community to “ stop Indian atrocities in Kashmir.”
This is to reinforce the idea that Kashmiris and their nationalist leaders like Yasin Malik were wanting Pakistan and nothing else. This symbolism couched in a dupatta , which defines the identity of the person , has been conferred on Yasin Malik’s wife , signaling a shift in the approach- now it is Pakistan instead of freedom that Yasin Malik has come to represent.
The accompanying report also reads , “Malik’s wife, Mishal Malik, was invited by Senator Rehman Malik to his residence on Monday. Her daughter, Raziya Sultana, and her mother accompanied her. They discussed human rights violations taking place in India-held Kashmir and the arrest of Malik by the Indian forces.
“Yasin Malik and his family are fighting peacefully for their right to self-determination as per the United Nations Security Council resolutions, yet he has been kept in illegal custody,” said the senator.
In his public appearances and speeches , Yasin Malik , currently in jail, has hailed Pakistan ,” as a friend and supporter of the cause of Kashmiris fighting for their freedom.” By contrast, he paints “ India as an oppressor, suppressing the freedom struggle of Kashmiris with brute force.”
His frequent visits to Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and consultations with Pakistani envoy during the past couple of years has pushed him to the side of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a hardcore Pakistani . At the moment, the trio- Geelani, Malik and Chairman of the Hurriyat faction Mirwaiz Umar Farooq ( also jailed in a special place in Srinagar) are operating under the same script , in which Pakistan is a friend and India is an enemy.
