[Reader-list] Hurriyat leader was murdered, not killed by police-TOI

rashneek kher rashneek at gmail.com
Fri Aug 22 10:10:54 IST 2008


NEW DELHI: Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, whose shooting during the "LoC
march" organized by Kashmir separatists on August 11 gave an explosive turn
to the agitation, was not killed by a police or army bullet.

In a shocking revelation, national security adviser M K Narayanan told the
Union Cabinet on Thursday that it was not at all clear who had fired the
fatal bullet at Aziz, a former Al Jehad leader who was part of the march on
the Srinagar-Muzzaffarabad highway.

The NSA also pointed out that there were many rivalries at work in the
Kashmir Valley.

Narayanan was responding to a question by Union steel minister Ramvilas
Paswan, who pointed out that it was rather unusual for a leader to be killed
in police action. Typically, leaders in such situations are surrounded by
workers and never directly exposed in an incident of the sort that took
place as the marchers approached Uri.

Also, at the first signs of tough action, the leaders were whisked away with
some help of the local cop always mindful of their stature.

Narayanan said that investigations have established that the bullets which
felled the separatist leader were not fired by security forces.

NSA disclosure points to Pak hand in unrest

The disturbing disclosure ties in with the suspicion that Pakistan-backed
separatists have been stoking passion to put their agenda back on
centrestage.

Importantly, Pakistan-backed elements have organised assassinations and then
blame these on India to further their interests, killings of Mirwaiz Omar
Farooq's father and Abdul Ghani Lone being the two cases in point.

Also, Hurriyat leaders remain bitterly divided, with all the unity efforts
coming unstuck after temporary truces.

There are no clear accounts of the situation prevailing during the move to
transport trucks carrying fruits across the LoC but the death of Aziz and
other civilians became a rallying point for separatists and lead anti-India
groups abroad to condemn Indian "state repression."
 The separatists seized on the Amarnath land-for-pilgrims plan as an emotive
issue to fire up sentiments over "demographic" change by way of "Hindu"
settlements in the Valley, the march was aimed to stir up the Valley to
slogans like "apni mandi, Rawalpindi."

Aziz's death only helped stir opinion in the Valley, proving to be a
catalyst which turned an agitation against an "economic blockade" of the
Valley into a full-throated cry for "azadi."

-- 
Rashneek Kher
Wandhama Massacre-The Forgotten Human Tragedy
http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com


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