Left in a lurch
A rebuff for the Kashmiri separatists from China and EU.
Mir Waiz Umar Farooq really seems to be landing himself into trouble. First, he had to stave off internal problems in the Hurriyat by dissolving his executive and governing council, and issue a gag order on media interaction. All this while he is also being targeted by the hardline separatists under Syed Ali Shah Geelani and opposed by the mainstream soft-separatism of the Muftis.
On the international front, China issued a clarification quashing all speculation about Chinese fishing in Kashmiri waters. But the hardest blow has come from the European Union. A few years ago, the EU was more concerned about Human Rights in Kashmir and international nature of the Kashmir dispute. Now, it comes out with an explicit statement which says:
We consider Kashmir [to be] an integral part of India.
A seemingly friendless Mirwaiz could end up repeating his tactical mistake of the past. He would again gravitate towards Geelani and other hardliners in the Hurriyat to reaffirm his separatist credentials. That is a fail-safe option compared to the far riskier proposition of being seen as sitting across the table discussing a solution for Kashmir with the Indian government. There is not much that India can do to help matters. Except WaW — Wait and Watch!
[...] Those interested in such happenings in the past may like to revisit the rift caused within the moderate separatists after the death of Abdul Ghani Lone. Mir Waiz attended the funeral of the main suspect Ledri and described him as a martyr which led to Sajjad Lone parting his ways from the Hurriyat. And in none of Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq’s interviews will anyone find any mention of the murderers of his father. In this Rediff interview of 1997, he talks about the Indian security forces shooting the mourners at his father’s funeral while completely missing out on the Hizbul Mujahideen’s murder of his father. There is a strong probability that the history could soon repeat itself, as the international environment and local politics is already making the position of Mirwaiz untenable. [...]