Separatists use social media to counter curbs

A Kashmiri saying goes “As the fisherman casts a net the fish discover how to jump over it”. Ostensibly taking a cue from it, key Kashmiri separatist leaders, who often face official curbs such as transitory or drawn out house arrests, incarceration in police stations etc., take to the Internet to reach out to the people.

Mufti Muhammad Sayeed flaunted one-liners like, “Democracy is battle of ideas”, and “bandook se na goli se, baat banegi boli se. (Neither through the gun nor the bullet, the matter will have to be resolved through dialogue)”, and promised Kashmiri separatists a political space to vent their spleen. His daughter Mehbooba Mufti pledged to carry the legacy forward when she stepped in his shoes and became the first woman chief minister of the restive Himalayan state earlier this year.

But soon deviating from its “‘Democracy is battle of ideas” promise, the PDP-BJP government began a crackdown on select key separatists leaders including Muhammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister and leader of opposition National Conference (NC), accused Ms Mufti of personally and directly supervising the selective crackdown on separatists. “The same Mehbooba Mufti who advocated political engagement and dialogue with Hurriyat leaders is now supervising a selective crackdown on those separatist leaders who are more open and stinging in their criticism of her policies and U-turns,” he alleged.

He also said, “It was PDP that assured the separatists a ‘Battle of Ideas’ where they would be free to advocate their views in a democratic and free manner. Today she has gone from that self-righteous moral pedestal to the role of personally directing arrests and using almost three-decade old cases to send separatist leaders to jail.”

While in confinement, these leaders, or their aides on their behalf, take to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to counteract the official curbs and reach out to the people and deliver messages. They also use the Internet to send their statements and other petitions to world leaders like US President Barack Obama, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan, various human rights groups, prominent political parties and, of course, journalists and media organisations.

As the government tightened restrictions on the Mirwaiz, Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference alliance, earlier this month, he took to Twitter to complain: “Barred again by ‘champions of democracy’ from offering Friday prayers. Force, intimidation and coercion policy of the state”. In another tweet, he announced: “Govt can’t scuttle our voice by arrests & detentions. Hurriyat will continue to oppose anti Kashmir policies & designs.”

While under house arrest at his Srinagar residence, the Mirwaiz in yet another Tweet asked people to reach the city’s historic Grand Mosque for holding protests. He said, “Not allowed to offer Friday prayers at Jama Masjid today. Detentions, house arrests won’t frighten us...protests at Jama Masjid today”.

Yet another Tweet from him read: “After caging all the pro- freedom leadership in the name of ‘peace’, PDP-BJP govt of Mehbooba Mufti now trying to gag media as well. What a shame!”

The Mirwaiz, who is among Kashmir’s new generation of Internet savvy politicians who have taken their political struggle to cyberspace, uses Twitter to draw the world’s attention towards what he alleges is the “serious” human rights situation in the state and to reiterate the demand of self-determination for its people.

Yasin Malik usually uses Facebook to deliver his messages. Mr Malik, who is the chairman of pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, has faced frequent detentions by the police in the past couple of months amid his pro-active efforts to strike ‘issue-based unity’ in the separatist camp. Last week, he was taken into custody by police while on way to the residence of senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani who himself is under house arrest for past several months. He was subsequently sent to Srinagar Central Jail but the JKLF was quick to place his message on Facebook: “Now the shamelessness of so-called rulers has touched a new low as they have chosen to ban even personal meetings between two people. By imposing ban on mutual meetings, so-called saffronised rulers have expressed their animosity against democratic and civilised behaviours.” He said the move to prevent him from meeting the octogenarian leader “proves it beyond any doubt how much the rulers and other authorities fear the unity among resistance leaders”.

Mr Malik also posted: “These oppressive measures can’t deter us from pursuing the path of truth and freedom, and history bears witness to the fact that tolerating these atrocities and bans has been our way of life from past many years.”

Several other separatist leaders like Islamic Students League chief Mr Shakeel Bakshi also spend hours blogging, Tweeting, responding to online users and updating their Facebook pages. They maintain the Internet has been an effective tool in both updating Kashmiris home and abroad about the situation in the state and spreading their word, especially when under house arrest or facing other official curbs.

Some of the separatist parties have their own Facebook pages and websites, which are updated regularly.