Jammu & Kashmir: political history
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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2024
Kin of top separatists publicly vow loyalty to India
Saleem Pandit, March 22, 2024: The Times of India
Srinagar: An ideological generation gap in two prominent pro-Pakistan separatist families of J&K exploded in public after the granddaughter of late Hurriyat patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the elder daughter of jailed Democratic Freedom Party founder Shabir Shah put out newspaper ads distancing themselves from the “anti-India” narrative.
“I am a loyal citizen of India not affiliated with any organisation or association which has an agenda against Union of India... I owe my allegiance to the Constitution of my country,” said Geelani’s granddaughter Ruwa Shah. Shah’s daughter Sama Shabir made a similar announcement through an ad in another daily. “I am not associated with the DFP or its ideology in any way,” she said, warning of legal action against anyone linking her to the separatist outfit.
The curious case of both the scions making identical declarations of “allegiance” to India on the same day could be more than just a coincidence. Ruwa and Sama have both had their Indian passports impounded for undisclosed reasons, sources said.
Sama, studying law at a British university, recently received an ED summons in a money laundering case involving her father. The agency had previously summoned her in 2019, soon after she moved to Manchester for her education.
Her mother Dr Bilquis Shah, a govt employee posted in a state-run Srinagar hospital for over a decade, is a co-accused in the case. ED named her in a supplementary chargesheet filed in 2020 after one of those arrested in the case, Aslam Wani, told investigators that he handed laundered cash to Bilquis and her husband on multiple occasions.
Ruwa’s father, Altaf Shah, was a close ideological aide of his father-in-law Geelani until his arrest on charges of terror funding. In 2017, NIA put him in Tihar jail. He died of cancer in October 2021.
Ruwa started her career as a Saudi Airlines crew member before taking a break to study journalism in Delhi. In 2020, she went to Istanbul on a scholarship given by Turkish govt and soon started the alleged anti-India propaganda through her “Ruwa Shah Show” on local television.
Geelani’s granddaughter, meanwhile. returned to India after her father died in Oct 2021.
Army cancels UCC seminar at Kashmir University
Saleem Pandit, March 24, 2024: The Times of India
Srinagar: Army cancelled a seminar on Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at Kashmir University, citing enforcement of model code of conduct for parliamentary elections.
The move, however, followed a backlash from Jammu and Kashmir politicians, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who questioned propriety of Army holding such a ‘political seminar’. Lt Col M K Sahu, defence PRO in Srinagar, later told TOI that the Army was only a facilitator of the seminar that was proposed to be organised by Kashmir Jurist. J&K HC chief justice Kotishwar Singh was supposed to be the chief guest.
In a scathing post on X, Omar said: “Is it appropriate for the Indian Army to get involved in the divisive issue of the uniform civil code and that too in a sensitive area like Kashmir? There is a reason the Indian Army has remained apolitical and areligious. This ill-advised UCC seminar is a threat to both these basic tenets. Going ahead with this risks opening up the army to charges of getting involved in the murky world of politics coupled with interfering in religious matters.”
Meanwhile, Mehbooba alleged that BJP “is infiltrating into all sacred institutions of the country, and Army seems to be yet another casualty”.
