Crisis After Burhan’s Killing Poses a Challenge for the Hurriyat

Will the Hurriyat leadership, a divided house, be able to pacify people in J&K in the aftermath of Burhan’s death?

Burhan Muzaffar Wani (22), “a militant, a terrorist, a separatist guerilla” or any other name you would like to give him, is dead now. Yes, you read that right; he was killed in south Kashmir’s Kokernag area on 8 July 2016 in a brief encounter with the J&K police’s team of Special Operations Group (SOG), which was dispatched from Srinagar’s Cargo.

He is no more, but his killing has left Kashmir in a situation the region had witnessed two-and-a-half decades ago. At the same time, it has become an existential test for the Hurriyat Conference – which has been demanding a plebiscite in the region.

Backlash Against Burhan’s Killing

Kashmir is back to square one. But all of this could have been avoided had Burhan Wani been arrested and not killed. The streets and roads of Kashmir would not have been deserted today but filled with tourists, the backbone of Kashmir’s economy.

Wani was a minor when he picked up the gun. He joined the terror group at a time when militancy was on its last legs in Kashmir. It was 2010 when a massive unrest had gripped Kashmir over the killing of a teenager. Over 120 people were killed and thousands injured in the spontaneous protests.

After six years of hide and seek with the Indian forces, Burhan was finally killed. But in these six years, Burhan was not only able to revive the militancy in Kashmir, but emerged as a poster boy of the present wave of militancy. He got the most celebrated farewell, with the people of Kashmir defying curfew restrictions to attend his funeral. Soon after his burial, the sea of people who had reached Tral to catch a last glimpse of him, hit the roads in protest, demanding azaadi from India.

Eight days after his death, the spontaneous protests continue and there seems to be no end to the violence. According to reports, 43 people have been killed and over 2000 injured in the clashes.

Existential Test for the Hurriyat

Burhan Wani’s death has infused a new life into Kashmir’s freedom movement. The impetus and the momentum turned out to be an existential test for the Hurriyat leadership. It’s something the Hurriyat leaders were longing for since 2010.

The Hurriyat leadership had already warned of massive protests after Eid-ul-Fitr over the Sainik colony row and separate ghettos for Pandits, but they didn’t know where to start as they continued to remain either under house arrest or in jails.

Burhan’s killing has given the Hurriyat leadership all the more reason to pull the trigger.

It will be quite interesting to see how the Hurriyat handles the movement, sparked by the militant commander’s killing. The sentiment of people, especially the youth, is on a boil, which is quite visible on the ground.

A Divided House

The situation is worrying with a group of masked youth appearing before the media at an undisclosed location on Wednesday and vowing to continue the struggle, saying they won’t let the 2016 movement meet the fate of the 2008 or 2010-like uprisings.

Now, with the PDP-led ruling dispensation eager to hold peace talks and having thrown the ball into the court of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, to give sustainable peace a chance, all eyes are on the Hurriyat leaders, to see how they respond.

(The writer is a journalist based in Kashmir. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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