Srinagar, Sept 4 (NVI) Bilal Gani Lone, a leader of separatist Hurriyat Conference, has revealed that Pakistan would apply “pressure tactics” on them, which, in turn, influenced the situation in Kashmir.
He has stated that the “pressure tactics” applied by Pakistan, along side “extremist elements” and militant organisations” made the democratic and political process in Kashmir “more complicated”.
Bilal Gani Lone is the elder son of late Abdul Gani Lone, the founder member of Hurriyat Conference and chief of Peoples Conference. He was killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists in Kashmir in 2002 after he made some comments against Pakistan.
Kashmir “had to contend with multiple pressures, including extremist elements, militant organisations and pressure tactics from Pakistan,” Bilal Lone has said in a recent interview.
He was obviously referring to the activities carried out by the Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of various sepratist groups brought together by Pakistan which used to dictate all its actions.
Bilal Lone talked about the practice of issuing “hartal calendars” in Kashmir over two decades back and said it was largely done at the behest of hardline Hurriyat faction led by late Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Geelanii was a staunch supporter of Pakistan and would carry out all the diktats issued to him from across the border.
Bilal Gani Lone has also regretted the decision of not contesting elections in Jammu and Kashmir, saying staying away from the democratic process in the past was “not a good decision”
His father Abdul Gani Lone was initially a staunch supporter of Pakistan. But after the humiliating defeat of Pakistan in the Kargil conflict of 1999, he became a critic of Pakistan.
In less than three years later, he was silenced when pro-Pakistan terrorists gunned him down in Srinagar when he was attending the death anniversary function of Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq on May 21, 2002.
Incidentally, Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq too had been killed by pro-Pakistan terrorists in 1990 as he was speaking against bloodshed. (NVI)
