The Valley's head cleric and moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said young and educated Kashmiri boys have joined freedom movement. They are part of the struggle at the indigenous level. They are not the ones going anywhere outside for trainings nor is anyone anchoring them from behind. They are symbols of resistance.
In an interview from his house arrest after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said there is no political space and that is the reason these boys are picking up guns especially after 2010 when Indian occupation forces quelled the street protests through force and intimidation by killing innocent people. Today, we see Burhan not as a hardcore militant but as a symbol against them, knowing that he cannot beat the military might of India.
The APHC leader said Burhan Wani's death will definitely inspire many people to go that way. There is no denying that people feel a sense of desperation. People feel the government of India is just not ready to engage or even acknowledge the sentiments in Kashmir. The PDP-BJP coalition has added a huge dimension to the problem. People feel India is trying to culturally, religiously and politically undermine our authority.
He said they want to keep the resistance political. But the fact is that we are ourselves under house arrest. There is no scope for peaceful resistance. Even the coalition partners have buried their agenda. They don't talk about self-governance any more, neither AFSPA nor other issues they raised before forming the government. It is sad that chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is speaking against clerics.