Srinagar: 

Bashir Ahmad Andrabi-led Kashmir Freedom Front is the sixth separatist organisation to sever relations with the amalgam. This follows the announcement of five separatist outfits cutting ties with the Hurriyat and pledging their support to India.

Cutting three-decade-old ties with the separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference, one more separatist leader has joined the mainstream in Kashmir amid the ongoing visit of Home Minister Amit Shah to the region.

Advocate Shafi Reshi, who was head of the Democratic Political Movement (DPM) alongside Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement Shahid Saleem, reaffirmed their allegiance to India, citing the conglomerate’s failure to address the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Andrabi, alongside the six separatists, warned of legal action against anyone attempting to link their name or organisation with separatist factions. Mimicking each other’s words, they announced strong opposition to the ideology of the Hurriyat Conference.

This prompted the Home Minister Amit Shah to publicly declare the separatism, which was seen as an essential part of Kashmir’s political narrative as a “history”, last month.

“Under the Modi government, separatism is breathing its last, and the triumph of unity is echoing across Kashmir,” announced Shah, who has to his credit several feats, including bringing down the violence on the ground with parameters showing the militants reduced to an all-time low at 76.

Set up in 1993, the Hurriyat Conference was an amalgam of over two dozen parties, with many lacking grassroots support. However, the separatist cartel split into two in 2003. One faction was led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, while another was led by Syed Ali Geelani until his death in September 2021.

Mirwaiz, however, was put under house arrest inside his residence in Srinagar’s Nigeen area for four years with the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Over two dozen separatists are behind bars on charges ranging from supporting militancy to terror funding, leaving the Hurriyat ineffective on the ground.

Many of its constituents, including the Mirwaiz-led Awami Action Committee and Jammu and Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM) led by Mohammad Abbas Ansari, were proscribed for five years on charges of supporting terrorism and fuelling secessionist activities on March 11.

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