Jammu And Kashmir - Hurriyat Struggle To Stay Relevant

Once a powerful forum for separatists, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference is now struggling to stay relevant in Kashmir

- Tariq Bhat

Nearly three decades since it was founded, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference finds itself at a crossroads. The reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into a Union territory in August 2019, and the arrest and imprisonment of several Hurriyat leaders in the leadup to it, have politically marginalised the once-powerful umbrella body of separatists. Chances of a revival appear rather slim, since several of its key members are either dead or facing long prison terms.

The Hurriyat was formed on July 31, 1993, by separatist parties with disparate ideologies. The objective was to create a political platform that would complement the armed struggle that took root in Kashmir in the late 1980s. The Hurriyat was the brainchild of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, preacher and custodian of the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, the most influential mosque in the valley. Mirwaiz was just 19 when he brought together separatist organisations on a common platform; his father, Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, had been shot dead by unidentified gunmen nearly three years earlier.

In the absence of Geelani and Malik, Mirwaiz has the difficult task of reviving the Hurriyat on his own.

The Hurriyat was considered the rebirth of the Muslim Mutahida Mahaz (Muslim United Front, or MUF), a coalition of parties with separatist leanings that challenged the National Conference in the 1987 assembly polls. The ruling coalition of the NC and the Congress had rigged the elections, sowing the seeds of militancy in the valley. After the polls, MUF supporters were among the first to cross the Line of Control for arms training.