When former Hurriyat Conference chairman Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat rose to speak at the launch of his book ‘Beyond Me’ at his office cum residence at Magarmal Bagh, few expected him to take on his Hurriyat colleagues for their response to the ongoing uprising. But he did, thus living up to his reputation as a leader who has often defied political correctness. He struck the first discordant note against his Hurriyat colleagues by openly criticizing their handling of the current unrest. He called them "blind riders on a lame horse". He said they had “jumped into the river without knowing how to swim”. He emphasised that sincerity of purpose was not enough, that a leader should have brains too. He said those who lead should do so in the light of a deeper and a clear understanding of what is required to be done. “They should possess the light of the vision, the light of the mind which is sharp and penetrating," he told the gathering at his home.
However, pro-freedom camp has chosen to ignore him. Only JKLF has made a general statement calling upon “resistance leaders and organizations to refrain from all such acts and statements “that may prove detrimental to the unity and firm belief which are basic pillars of our resistance movement”.
However, it hardly becomes Hurriyat to ignore the import of what the maverick leader has said. On the contrary Prof Ghani's observations ought to generate a debate about the strategy of the pro-freedom camp vis-a-vis the current mass eruption. And not necessarily only in critical terms. There should be a constructive debate. This is important not only to bring in the accountability among the separatist ranks but also increase the circulation of ideas in our otherwise intellectually-deficient political discourse. And for this exercise to be successful it has to be public and not private. And who better than Prof Ghani to raise some very pertinent questions about the Hurriyat role in the present crisis. He has been a major separatist ideologue over the past three decades. A professor of Persian at Sopore Degree College, he was dismissed from service in 1986 for being a threat to the security of the state. A year later Prof Ghani plunged into politics by becoming the founding member of the Muslim United Front, a conglomerate of the largely secessionist religious and political organizations which contested the fateful 1987 Assembly election. Prof Ghani was the Chief Spokesman of MUF and a member of its Executive Council together with Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Jamaat chief Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, Qazi Nisar and Dr Ghulam Qadir Wani, the last two of which have since been assassinated.
He has been through it all. And thankfully for our politically correct politics, Prof Ghani is not known to mince his words, even though more often than not he speaks in metaphors. He did the same thing at his book release ceremony where he was in his element. He gave a thrilling speech, tossed wisecracks and bon mots and frequently took oblique yet blunt digs at his separatist colleagues. As the situation stands now, we need someone like Prof Ghani to jolt us into our senses and force us to start introspecting about our current plight and think of a smarter strategy to steer us out of it.
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