Pandits return: Hurriyat (G) slams Omar Abdullah

Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (G) spokesman, Ayaz Akbar, Wednesday slammed chief minister Omar Abdullah for suggesting that the rehabilitation of migrant Kashmiri Pandits was the state government’s programme and that Syed Ali Shah Geelani wanted to “follow it” and that if Geelani had advocated the return of Kashmiri Pandits earlier, it would have been much better.“Geelani has not spoken about the return of Kashmiri Pandits for the first time; he has held Kashmiri Pandits as an inseparable part of the Kashmiri society from day one and advocated their return.  He doesn’t need to ‘follow’ any government programme. He takes initiatives on his own, which the Kashmiri nation follows by soul and heart.  Omar Abdullah should realize that despite him being the chief minister, it is Geelani who is Jammu and Kashmir’s king in a real and true sense. What Omar Abdullah cannot do, despite the Indian military and police at his disposal, becomes possible by one gesticulation of Geelani,” he said.Akbar said at the time of migration of Kashmiri Pandits , Geelani was “languishing” in jails, and the “plan of expelling Kashmiri Pandits was made by the then governor Jagmohan.”The Hurriyat (G) spokesman also slammed Omar Abdullah for accusing Syed Ali Shah Geelani of misleading Kashmiri people on the issue of Dogra certificate. “Geelani Sahib is not misleading the people, but the entire Kashmiri nation knows that the Abdullah family has misled Kashmiris in the past and now Omar Abdullah is putting the interests of Kashmiris at stake for the sake of his chair. It was Omar’s grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah, who enslaved Kashmiris under the yoke of India, and to this day, Omar, his father and their followers are working to tighten this noose around the neck of Kashmiris,” Akbar said.Akbar said the National Conference’s politics was based on lies and deception. “Omar Abdullah says that the Pahari people in Jammu would be counted among Dogras by the issuance of Dogra certificate. Well, that’s the problem.  45 percent of the population living in the Pahari areas of Jammu is Muslims and by issuing this so-called Dogra certificate, the government wants to erase their identity and assimilate them into Dogra society so that, when the time for resolving Kashmir issue comes, the demand for independence can be shown confined to the Valley and the rest of the state’s population being happy with the Indian occupation,” Akbar said. “One can ask what is the need for issuing a Dogra certificate when a state subject certificate is already in place for the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. To this day all the residents of the state, including the Dogras, have been applying for civil and military jobs on the basis of the state subject certificate. Besides, clause 9 of the Jammu and Kashmir constitution’s part 3 clearly states that  for any new right to state subjects, the 2/3 majority in the Legislative Assembly must pass it before it takes the shape of a law. Therefore, the Dogra certificate order is completely illegal,” he said.