SRINAGAR, July 9: Separatists on Monday made another attempt to “sensitize Indian public about the problem in Kashmir” by approaching pilgrims who are visiting the valley for the annual Amarnath yatra.
Senior moderate separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, who heads the Democratic Freedom Party, along with other separatist leaders visited pilgrims’ camps in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, one of the two major routes to reach the 14000-feet-high cave shrine housing an ice stalagmite worshipped by the Hindus, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
Last year separatist leader and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, while welcoming the pilgrims, urged them to act as ambassadors of Kashmir and to present the “real picture” of Kashmir at their respective places.
“Kashmir’s present struggle is a political struggle. We demand the same rights from India, which she demanded from the British rulers when colonized,” Shah told pilgrims camping inside tents at the major stopover at Pahalgam, 100 km south of Srinagar.
Shah talked to the pilgrims for three hours in several camps.
Shah reiterated the promises made by former Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to people of Kashmir.
“Pandit Nehru was first Indian prime minister who promised people here that they will be provided with a chance to decide their future. With the passage of time, India did not provide that chance and when demanded by people of Kashmir, she unleashed brutal force on them,” Shah said.
The Amarnath Pilgrimage is one of the holiest for the Hindus.
This is first ever move by separatists to use the pilgrimage as a tool to spread separatism.
On Saturday last, Shah was detained by the police after the army denied him access to the camps.
The separatist said the pilgrimage “provided a golden opportunity to apprise people of India about Kashmir problem”, the newspaparer wrote.
“There are sensitive people who will go to their states with the message of real ground situation of Kashmir,” said Shah, who, at the same time, appealed to Muslims to provide all necessary help to the visiting pilgrims.
“This is necessary to have Indian public’s opinion in our favour,” he said.
The separatist leader said he hoped that the pilgrims will convey the message (to the government) that people of Kashmir wants a peaceful resolution to the problem.
The yatra, which started on June 25, will culminate on August 2 coinciding with Hindu festival which is Rakshabandan.
More than three lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the shrine so far.
