Hurriyat hawk late Syed Ali Geelani’s granddaughter Ruwa Shah and jailed separatist leader Shabir Shah’s daughter Sama Shabir had recently put notices in newspapers disassociating themselves from “separatist ideology” and pledging their loyalty to “the sovereignty of Union of India”.
Srinagar: Days after the kin of some senior separatist leaders pledged “loyalty to India” through newspaper notices, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday compared the situation to the 1990s when militants used to threaten political workers to disassociate from the mainstream.
Hurriyat hawk late Syed Ali Geelani’s granddaughter Ruwa Shah and jailed separatist leader Shabir Shah’s daughter Sama Shabir had recently put notices in newspapers disassociating themselves from “separatist ideology” and pledging their loyalty to “the sovereignty of Union of India”.
While sharing pictures of nearly identical notices published in local newspapers on micro-blogging site X, Mehbooba said, “Kashmir witnessed a time when gun toting militants threatened & forced political workers to disassociate themselves from the mainstream or face dire consequences. Today that pattern is being repeated & what makes it even more disturbing is that the role is being played by the state itself (sic).”
The separatist leaders’ kin disassociating themselves from “separatist ideology” is reminiscent of early 1990’s when many of the Valley’s political workers had announced their resignations through local newspapers in fear of militants.
This story was originally published in deccanherald.com. Read the full story here.