Srinagar: Every year Kashmir shuts to commemorate the death anniversary of Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, but the day (Feb 11, 1984) when he was executed in Tihar jail, Kashmiris acted as mute spectators and those who protested faced the wrath of their immediate bosses.
Those days people of Kashmir used to tune in to Radio Pakistan at 8:30 in the evening. I was shocked when the news reader concluded the news bulletin without mentioning the hanging of Kashmiri leader.
Radio Pakistan had broken the news at 5:30 during the day but maintained silence at prime time bulletin at 8:30, when majority of the Kashmiris tuned to the radio, close confidant of Maqbool Bhat who spent 7 months with him in Pakistan said adding that Maqbool was a force to reckon with.
Jammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi patron, Azam Inqalabi said that two days before the execution of Maqbool Bhat, India, Pakistan Foreign Secretary meeting was held in New Delhi and probably during the meeting Pakistan had given a green signal to India to go ahead with the execution of Maqbool Bhat. I love Pakistan and for me it is the only country in the world which feels the pain of Kashmiri people but that day I was shocked why it didnt broadcast the news about Bhats hanging. Later on I came to know that Pakistan allowed India to hang Maqbool to make Kashmiri people feel that they are a subjugated lot, claimed Azam Inqalabi.
He said that those days people of Kashmir were in slumber and Pakistan was just trying to awake them and thus did not react over the hanging of Maqbool Bhat. Today you see strike, clashes, tear gas shelling and what not on February 11, but that day Kashmiri people acted as ignorant and did not react at all. A high profile advocate and a member of Jamat-e-Islami Advocate Muhammad Ashraf organized a protest in Baramulla against the hanging of Bhat. To my surprise and shock, he was expelled from the basic membership of Jamat-e-Islami by the then Amir Jamat Pir Saiduddin for organizing a protest and expressing solidarity with the family of Maqbool Bhat, Inqalabi said.
That time Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammd Farooq failed to take a stand because he was in a fix what to do. India had distorted, vilified and disfigured the image of Maqbool to such an extent that no Kashmiri was ready to protest in his favour. Late Molvi Farooq failed to differentiate between propaganda and reality and thus did not protest or act, he said.
Lauding the role of late Abdul Ghani Lone, Azam Inqilabi siad that he was the only mainstream politician those days who protested against the hanging of Muhammad Maqbool Bhat. Lone was vocal and an ardent supporter of Kashmir cause. On his call, people of Handwara and Kupwara observed a complete shutdown on that day. He (Abdul Ghani Lone) was the only person who expressed solidarity with the bereaved family of Maqbool Bhat and criticized India for hanging the son of soil. Lone was the true friend of Kashmiri people and he dedicated his whole life for them. He was vocal, orator, pro-Kashmiri and a high profile resistance leader who lost his life just because he advocated the cause of Kashmiris and gave a drubbing to some Pakistani state actors during a meeting in Dubai, he revealed.
When asked what was the role of Syed Ali Geelani that day, Azam Inqilabi said that Geelani, Ashraf Sehrai, Qari Saifuddin, Farooq Rehmani, Ghulam Qadir Wani and others were in prison and were not allowed by India to express their solidarity with the bereaved family.
Abdul Majeed later a Hizb commander who was killed during an encounter enforced a shutdown in Sopore that day, though people were not willing to observe a strike. Dar was brave enough to force people to shut their shops and stay indoors on Feb 11, 1984 but in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir, except Handwara, Kupwara and Sopore, the hanging of Maqbool Bhat bothered few, he said.
When asked why people of Kashmir did not protest against the hanging of Maqbool Bhat, Azam Inqilabi said that Maqbool Bhat was fighting for an independent Kashmir while in Kashmir most of the pro-Pakistani organizations did not take the matter seriously and remained numb because for them Maqbool was pro Kashmiri and not an ardent supporter of Pakistan. (CNS)
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