Indian Muslim clerics against talks with those who chant Pakistan zindabad

Hurriyat leaders had earlier refused to meet an all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh


News Desk September 07, 2016
A file photo of Hurriyet leader Syed Ali Geelani. PHOTO: AFP

A group of Indian Muslim clerics on Tuesday expressed their displeasure at Hurriyat leaders who snubbed a delegation of Indian politicians trying to hold talks with them in held-Kashmir.

Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, among others, had refused to meet an all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday, according to ANI. Sources say the separatists had reservations over talking to the team because Singh was leading it. Indian-occupied Kashmir has been engulfed in turmoil for months following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Kashmiri leaders snub Indian lawmakers

Meeting with Rajnath, Muslim clerics from the Barelvi school of thought said that members of that delegation should not have tried to meet those who raise slogans like Pakistan zindabad. "Some people who went with the home minister to Kashmir went to meet separatists, they should not have done that. How can we talk to people who are raising Pakistan zindabad slogans? We are very clear that we would not go at their doorstep only to be turned away by them, like they did to a handful of people recently," Maulana Ansar Raza of the Garib Nawaz Foundation said.

Calling the members who tried to meet with Hurriyat leaders "chai khor", Raza added, "Why should we go to them? Kashmiri kahwa is available in Delhi too.”

Union Home Minister Singh also took exception to the way the separatists treated members of the delegation.  "I want to clarify that some members of the (all-party) delegation had gone to meet members of the Hurriyat in their individual capacity. The separatists did not say yes and they did not say no. The way they treated the members of the delegation can in no way be portrayed as Kashmiriyat, humanity or democratic," Singh said at a news conference on Monday in Srinagar.

The story of a pro-Pakistan village in Indian Kashmir

According to the Times of India, India is considering curtailing perks given to separatists like foreign trips, security cover and medical treatment in what is being seen as hardening of the government's stance against militants.

Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik had also rebuffed the parliamentarians when they had tried to meet him at a police station, where he is detained. He told them that he would talk to them when he visits Delhi. "You see the situation outside. What can we talk about in such a situation?" Malik was quoted as saying.

Further, former moderate Hurriyat Conference chief Abdul Ghani Bhat welcomed the members of the Singh-led delegation but informed them that a decision had been made to boycott them. Bhat called the visit a "futile exercise", saying nothing concrete would happen unless India talked to Pakistan.

This article originally appeared on Times of India.

COMMENTS (32)

IndianDude | 7 years ago | Reply As I have always said in my comments. The majority of Indian Muslims are Indian first and Muslims second. The 'self-proclaimed' leader and champion of the Muslim ummah, pakistanis don't seem to get that.
Dessi | 7 years ago | Reply @ FAZ Correctly said, no body wants second Gujarat and 1947. As muslim clerics have noticed, Kashmir issue is only in 4 southern districts of Kashmir where Muslims are all most 100%. In districts where Muslims are let say even 70 to 80 % in Kashmir there is calm.But Muslims live all over India and right now if muslim don't show any trustworthiness, it could be a revist of 1947 but this time no Gandhi.Would you believe thay Kashmiri Muslims leaders are under Government of India's protection and receive police protocols.
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