Srinagar: At a time when the Valley is on the boil in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Internet-savvy poster boy Burhan Muzaffar Wani more than seven weeks ago, the militant outfit has asked displaced Kashmiri Pandits to return home assuring them “we’re your guardians, not enemies.”
A new 11-minute video from the Hizb surfaced in Srinagar on Monday evening showing one of its commanders Riyaz Naik, speaking on several issues, including the plight of tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits, who fled their homes in the Valley following the outbreak of militancy in 1990 and currently live in Jammu and other parts of the country. He said, “If they want to come back, we will welcome them warmly and there is always a place for them in our hearts.” He assures, “They are a part of our nation, we are their guardians, we are not their enemies.”
The Hizb commander, however, insists that they were not forced out of Kashmir by militants and alleges that it was a “conspiracy” of the then Governor, Jagmohan Malhotra. “Now we want to ask those Kashmiri Pandit brothers who left their own country in 1990s and settled in different parts of India to prove which mujahid forced them out of Kashmir.” He adds, “It was Jagmohan’s conspiracy under which they were taken them out of the Valley . He had planned to kill the Kashmiri Muslims the way the Muslims of Amritsar were massacred and then bring the Pandits back to the Valley,” (sic).
He further said, “India wants to weaken our freedom struggle by creating different conspiracies, which we will not allow.” He then asks, “Who forced those Pandit and Sikh brothers who were staying here to leave?”
Naik reiterates the Hizb’s threat to the Kashmiri youth who join the police force. Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, had earlier this month said that as many as 10,000 youth would be absorbed as Special Police Officers (SPOs). The posts have since been advertised formally and the authorities are expecting overwhelming response. But Naik termed it “conspiracy” by which India wants to weaken “our freedom struggle”.
He said, “They want us fight with one another. Neither India has any concern about our youths' employment nor does it need our youth.” He adds, “It is same India which martyred lakhs of our youth, made thousands of our youth lose their eyesight, and dishonoured our women. We will not forget these sacrifices and will not allow anyone to betray the sacrifices.”
He threatened, “Whosoever gets appointed as a SPO should also be ready to face the consequences.” Naik also asks the J&K policemen to stay at home and not to be part of the measures aimed at containing the ongoing unrest in the Valley. “We appeal police personnel to sit at their homes like the employees of other departments are doing. The fate of the policeman who attends duty will be nothing but death.”
Speaking on the August 15 militant attack on the CRPF in Srinagar’s Nowhatta area in which its commandant Pramod Kumar was killed, Naik says, “We’re saddened to listen to the statement of his 6-year-old child. When she said she loved her father the most, it brought tears to my eyes. We sympathise with her.”
He adds, “We don’t want to see any child becoming an orphan, but India has forced us to take up guns by forcibly occupying our land. We did not go to kill her father at his home but her father came here to make our children orphans, deprive us of our rights and impose forced occupation on us. I want to tell her mother to come to Kashmir and see how many children have become orphans and how many mothers have become widows at the hands of the Indian forces”.
The Hizb commander, however, threatened to kill more security forces officers and jawans. He said that India perhaps thought that after killing Wani it will live with peace in Kashmir. “This is their misunderstanding. We will not let India live with peace until it leaves Kashmir. We will send Indian forces packed in coffins similarly like we did on August 15.”
He asked people not to be saddened on the killing of Wani. “Don’t be sad over his martyrdom. Believers don’t grieve over martyrdom, they aspire for it. We are proud of his martyrdom. It has brought the struggle for freedom to such a phase that we had never imagined,” he said.
He insisted that he and others in the Hizb and other militant outfits were not terrorists but mujahideen (holy fighters). “His (Wani’s) martyrdom has proved to the world, particularly India that we are not terrorists but true mujahideen who are fighting hard for the right to self-determination which is our innate and fundamental right.” He also says, “We are not terrorists. We are the torchbearers of humanity. But we are ready to take away the life of anybody for our right and protection, and are also ready to lay down our own lives for the same.”
He sought to compare the funerals of Wani and the then Chief Minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, and says, “We want to ask India that if Burhan Wani was a terrorist, then why did India, which claims to be a democratic country, impose restrictions on social media on killing of a terrorist...If Burhan Wani was a terrorist, why did then 500,000 people participate in his funeral whereas not more than 1,000 people turned up at that of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, whom India believed to be Kashmir’s Chief Minister? If Burhan Wani was a terrorist, then why did people of Kashmir come out on roads and why did hundreds of young men offer their lives?”
While speaking on the ban on social media, Naik alleged that India “wants to suppress our voice by imposing strict ban on social media and does not allow our voice to reach different countries of the world”. He says, “Imposing restrictions on social media and showering bullets on people make it clear as to who is a terrorist.” He then announced, “Every child here is Burhan Wani” and asks “How long will India mislead the world by killing Burhan Wanis, imposing restrictions on social media and making false statements.”
Threatening to continue with the “armed struggle”, Naik said, “Even if India spends all its resources on Kashmir still we would not forget the blood of martyrs. Neither we have accepted India as our country nor will we accept it in future. This has been proved in 2008 and 2010 also.”
