Srinagar: Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, the younger brother of Union minister Farooq Abdullah and the uncle of J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, has sparked off a massive outrage yet again. He has slammed the country saying Kashmiris are closer to Pakistan. Calling India the enemy, Kamal alleged, “Time and again India has backtracked from its no-war pact with Pakistan.”
Kamal’s controversial comments at a National Conference rally in Kishtwar on Sunday are just the latest in a series of statements that have given Farooq and Omar uncomfortable moments. On the surface, Kamal’s tendency to take potshots at New Delhi seems strange considering his party, the National Conference, is the flag-bearer of mainstream politics in the state. But, a closer look at the history of Kashmir since 1947 suggests there might be a method in Kamal’s madness.
Beginning with Sheikh Abdullah, mainstream politicians in Kashmir have sought a delicate balance between separatism and being mainstream. Islamist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is today viewed as the most hardline of separatists, an image fostered no doubt by his unrelenting demand that Kashmir is disputed.
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