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Journalism of Courage
WHY is nobody surprised any more when a member of the Hurriyat Conference goes public in its anguish against the other? So Hurriyat trackers watched on with some degree of deja vu when Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front’s (JKLF) acting chairman Javeed Mir accused other conference leaders of nothing less than ‘‘criminal’’ silence over the detention of Yasin Malik under POTA two weeks ago. The outburst seems to have had its desired effect, with senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone duly criticising Malik’s detention and reported torture the next day. But the episode only exposes the inability of the conglomerate’s members to live with each other. It’s tough, it seems, for 23 organisations who banded together in 994 to stay under one roof and resist the temptation to shove the others out into the rain. And with the decisive October Assembly elections just months away, you could expect more outbursts and outbreaks. But this is one family that can’t live with or without the other: When Shabir Shah parted ways with the Hurriyat when), he ceased to be a strong voice.
Look Who’s Talking Now
n THE chief minister who had cosied up to the Centre the most is now twisting out of grasp. Among Farooq Abdullah’s famous pronouncements in the past was a defence of the military build-up along the border following the December 13 attack on Parliament. In fact, Abdullah had even championed the cause of entering Pakistani soil ‘‘to teach them a lesson’’. But like the weather, Farooq too now sings a different tune: he says the build-up was nothing but a political exercise on the part of the BJP to get votes in the recent Assembly elections. Farooq’s latest outburst, made in the legislative assembly, was provoked by what he termed the ‘‘Centre’s pampering of Hurriyat leaders’’. Or was the Centre’s quiet permission to a visit by a Hurriyat delegation to Pakistan the culprit?
