A massacre and its long shadow over Kashmir and its politics

Mirwaiz’s assassination came just a month after the militants kidnapped and killed the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Kashmir, Professor Mushir ul-Haq, after they failed to secure the release of his imprisoned associates in their exchange. While one militant group, the Students’ Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for Haq’s kidnapping, no group did for Mirwaiz Farooq’s murder. In response to the government accusing the militants of the murder, the latter blamed Indian security agencies, claiming they had hatched a plot to assassinate Mirwaiz.

It was a time when Kashmir was witnessing a surge in demand for Freedom (freedom), and people were unwilling to accept that the militants, who spearheaded the demand, could kill a religious and political leader, who also had a large following in the Old City and whose family had championed Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. . .

The events that unfolded that afternoon also helped the militants escape without scrutiny. As a large procession of people was carrying Mirwaiz’s body from the hospital to Mirwaiz Manzil in the Old City, paramilitary forces opened fire on them, killing more than 60 mourners and injuring more than 200. The infamous incident became known as the massacre. of Hawal, after the name of the place where the mourners were shot.

The anger that arose from Mirwaiz’s murder soon turned to anger against the paramilitary forces and the then J&K Governor Jagmohan, who had been appointed by the Center to quell the pro-Azaadi wave in the Valley.

In the day-to-day politics of the city of Srinagar, the two families, Abdullahs and Mirwaiz, were at opposite poles. While the Abdullahs were seen as pro-India, the Mirwaiz family was staunchly pro-Pakistan. When Sheikh Abdullah and Chowdhary Ghulam Abbas founded the Muslim Conference in 1931, Moulvi Yousuf Shah was also its founding member. But when Abdullah indicated that he wanted to dissolve the Muslim Conference to form a secular National Conference, differences came to light. In 1947 Yousuf Shah visited Pakistan to meet Mohammad Ali Jinnah. But upon his return, he was denied entry to the Valley by order of the then Maharaja Hari Singh. Moulvi Yousuf Shah lived in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and became its president for two terms.

In Srinagar, as chief priests of the Valley, the Mirwaiz family exerted considerable influence, especially as the pulpit of Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid was under their control. In 1964, Mirwaiz Farooq founded the Awami Action Committee, a socio-religious political party. It was the time when Sheikh Abdullah was the undisputed leader of Kashmir and the only semblance of opposition was given by the Mirwaiz family, something Abdullah was not very fond of. This led to a growing difference between Abdullah’s National Conference and the Mirwaiz family. The acrimony grew so great that his supporters often clashed.

In 1983, Sheikh Abdullah’s son Farooq Abdullah and Mirwaiz Farooq joined forces in what became known as the ‘Double Farooq Deal’. This was the first reconciliation step to end the Sher-Bakra dispute in Kashmir. Traditionally, the followers of Sheikh Abdullah, also called Sher-i-Kashmir, were known as ‘sher (lion)’, while the followers of Mirwaiz were called ‘bakra (goat)’.

Although Mirwaiz Farooq exerted considerable influence, it was limited to Srinagar. He had very few followers in other parts of the Kashmir valley.

According to the police, Hizb-ul Mujahideen militants, led by their then deputy chief Mohammad Abdullah Bangroo, had planned the assassination of Mirwaiz Farooq, considering him an “Indian pacifist and agent”. After his assassination, his son Mirwaiz Mohammad Umar Farooq, who was only 17 years old at the time, was named Mirwaiz of Kashmir.

But the narrative that unfolded after the killing of the mourners by Indian paramilitary forces and the tilt of Mirwaiz supporters towards Pakistan helped the militants escape blame. Indeed, three years later, at the age of 20, Mirwaiz Umar became the founding chairman of the militant-backed separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference.

Now, in an apparent “breakthrough” 33 years later, J&K police claimed on Tuesday they had arrested two of the militants they accuse of killing Mirwaiz. The other three defendants were killed or arrested in the interim. They include the person who police say pulled the trigger on Mirwaiz.