Why NIA raids won't dent Hurriyat's following in Kashmir

Hurriyat's response

“The raids are being conducted so that we surrender and stop voicing the sentiments of our nation, thereby covering and shielding India’s atrocities and barbarism against common and unarmed people,” Hurriyat said in a statement issued to the pres. “All these state-sponsored tactics won’t deter us from pursuing our mission, These oppressive measures will never make us surrender”.

The Hurriyat has called the raids a “well-thought plan to malign and defame our sacred movement”.

“The current raids being conducted by NIA and the hype and sensationalism around them just goes on to show the desperate attempt by government of India to vilify and discredit the resistance leadership and in turn discredit the people's freedom movement”.

However, to Hurriyat’s advantage, this is an opinion that is widely shared in the Valley,that the raids are more political than investigative in nature. More so, after the raids followed a sting operation carried out by a New Delhi based television channel. Few channels enjoy any credibility in Valley, mainly because of their largely one-sided, jingoistic coverage of the situation in the state.

“Even if Geelani would have been actually shown to be receiving money by some of these channels, few Kashmiris would take it seriously. Such is the loss of faith in the coverage of Kashmir by large sections of the national media,” says the commentator Gowhar Geelani.

“So, far from discrediting Hurriyat, such raids will even clear some residual suspicions against the conglomerate generated by the sting”.

Besides, says Gowhar Geelani, the people see through the design of the NIA investigation, followed as it has in the immediate wake of the fresh unrest in Valley with the college students including girls time joining the protests.

“At the same time, it is taken for granted that money is coming to the Valley through hawala channels to sustain the Azadi movement which enjoys overwhelming public support,” says Gowhar Geelani.

“It is also rationalised as something essential to keep the struggle going. So, no question of hitting the reputation of Hurriyat,”.he added.

However, while the sting and the raids may not have affected the political standing of the Hurriyat, it certainly has helped sow some differences in Hurriyat ranks. Two days after Khan was shown accepting on camera that Hurriyat received money from Pakistan and Hafiz Saeed, Hurriyat G, of which he was a senior member, suspended him.

Later in an interview to Kashmir Ink, Khan slammed senior separatists for selectively targeting him.

“I am a victim of concocted Indian media trial. I am also the victim of a selective, biased, authoritarian approach at home,” Khan said. “My simple question to my people is this: Should we let biased Indian media decide the fate of a leader here?”