Don’t weep for Lone

So from Gujarat now the focus has shifted to Kashmir. First, the Kaluchak massacre and, now, the Abdul Gani Lone killing. What is more shock...

So from Gujarat now the focus has shifted to Kashmir. First, the Kaluchak massacre and, now, the Abdul Gani Lone killing. What is more shocking is the way our prime minister and home minister have reacted to this killing. They have condemned it and expressed their deep regrets over it.

Why should Abdul Gani Lone be mourned? Why does the media go on and on about this killing? Who was Lone, anyway? Was he a Gandhi or a Nehru or a Shastri? The fact is that he was a militant who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims who refused the demand of the azadis — a cause Lone propagated. He was responsible for the exodus of three and a half lakh Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir who now languish in refugee camps.

Today, a new word has been coined by the media and the politicians for Lone — ‘moderate separatist’. A separatist cannot be moderate. If he is a separatist then he is one, he cannot be classified in different categories. He has been killed by those very forces whom he created, whom he nurtured, whom he gave birth to, whom he helped with guns, bombs, hatred. If these very people have pointed their guns towards him, he himself is responsible. He has to take the blame for his own death.

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The country doesn’t have to shed tears or feel sad for such people. Let us accept the reality. America created Osama bin Laden and Osama bin Laden attacked America. Abdul Gani Lone created terrorists in Kashmir and they killed him. So what’s new about it?

The manner our political establishment reacted to his death proves its shallowness and the degeneration of this nation’s politics. Peace in Kashmir cannot be brought on by the Hurriyat Conference or Farooq Abdullah, who is the key player in this chaos. Hand over the Valley to the army without any political interference and treat the terrorist as a terrorist. Only then will the problem be solved.

The writer is a Mumbai-based film maker and spokesperson for Panun Kashmir

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