Abdul Ghani Bhat was once an academic. Having studied Persian, Economics and Political Science at Sri Pratap College, Srinagar, he joined the Aligarh Muslim University to pursue a post-graduate course in Persian.He also acquired a degree in Law. Bhat returned home and briefly joined the Bar in Sopore. But he quickly switched to teaching.In March 1963, Bhat took up a job at the Government College, Poonch, as a lecturer of Persian, where he taught Persian for the next 22 years. Bhat’s political career began almost by accident. He claims that it was divine will. In February 1986, Bhat was dismissed from government service for ‘‘constituting a threat to the security of state’’. It was this move that finally pushed him into active politics. YOU FIRE, WE PRINT. We invite readers to put questions to Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Gani Bhat. We’ll publish them along with Bhat’s replies next week. E-mail your queries to yourvoice@expressindia.com Or write to: C-6 Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016 Bhat believes that he lost his job because the state government, in a bid to assuage the hurt feelings of the minority community after the alleged desecration of temples in south Kashmir, ‘‘sacrificed me and eight others on the alter of secularism to propitiate the powers in Delhi’’.Things moved quickly from this point onwards. He suggested that a collective political forum be formed — the Muslim United Front (MUF). The constitution of this body was framed in his Botengo home on July, 13, 1986.Interestingly, the MUF’s defeat in the polls of 1987, which was widely believed to have been rigged, provided a fillip to militancy in the Valley. A stint in jail followed. ‘‘When I was released after exactly nine months, I felt as if something was about to be born. Violence was to breed violence and the brewing discontent finally channelised itself into an armed struggle,’’ he said.But looking back on a decade of violence is he happy with the decision to take to the gun, a move which had destroyed so many young lives? ‘‘We are grateful to our boys, who took up arms and made our cause felt and voice heard,’’ he says.But herein lies the contradiction that Bhat lives with. He is staunchly pro-Pakistan and heads a separatist conglomerate, but he has suffered more at the hands of pro-Pakistan militants than the security forces. His younger brother, Mohammad Sultan Bhat, was killed by Hizbul Mujahideen militants.‘‘I know he was killed by the militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen. I have absolutely no doubt about this. But I don’t want revenge,’’ he says. He adds, ‘‘In politics, one has to drink from the poisoned chalice silently.’’
