Kashmir is witnessing two big family fights – moderate vs hardline Hurriyat and Farooq Abdullah vs sister Khalida Shah.
In the run-up to phase-II of the Lok Sabha election, Kashmir is witnessing two big family fights – moderate vs hardline Hurriyat and Farooq Abdullah vs sister Khalida Shah.
The massive turnout in the assembly poll last year has split the Hurriyat. The moderates had then joined the hardliners in calling for a boycott, but this time, they have resisted from giving such a call.
The moderate move has been partly prompted by leading separatist Sajjad Gani Lone’s “shocking” decision to contest poll.
On the other hand, hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to boycott the election and fight for the right to self-determination. “Holding polls in the presence of 7 lakh troops is nothing but sham,” he said.
The no-boycott decision has angered United Jihad Council, an amalgam of 13 militant outfits based in PoK. But the moderates are not bothered. “Nobody dictates us terms. We do not want unsolicited interference,” Maulvi Mohammad Abbas Ansari, officiating chairman of moderate Hurriyat, said.
The Abdullah tussle
With son Omar comfortably seated in the CM’s chair and the Congress firmly behind him, it would have been a cakewalk for Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar. But estranged sister and Awami National Conference (ANC) leader Khalida Shah has queered the pitch for the National Conference (NC) patriarch by deciding to contest the seat.
Flanked by Omar, Farooq, 72, filed his nomination on Friday as the Congress-NC alliance candidate, while Khalida will file her nomination on Saturday.
Khaleda has a tough task on hand. Farooq has never lost an election, though this is only his second Lok Sabha attempt after he won from Srinagar in 1980 unchallenged. “My party wanted me to contest and as a loyal soldier, I accepted it,” Farooq said. About his sister, he said, “ I wish her luck.”
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