Former separatist leader Bilal Gani Lone has called the Hurriyat Conference “irrelevant”, asserting the alliance to be “non-functional”, and condemned Pakistan for causing “fissures” in Jammu and Kashmir. He also urged the younger generation to accept the reality that India is “too big a power” and advised them not to see the country through the lens of political parties but to “see India as India and try to find a space for themselves,” PTI reported.
“Hurriyat is no more relevant as on date. Hurriyat functional bhi nahi hai (Hurriyat is not even functional),” Lone told PTI Videos. “Let’s be honest about it… when you talk about Hurriyat as of date, it’s not present anywhere in Kashmir,” he added.
He said the present generation has to be told the truth about the last 35 years as they have “no other option” but to enter this new political sphere because “the politics of exploitation has to stop”.
He made an appeal to the people, urging them to look at India not through the lens of political parties like the BJP or Congress, but to “
Why did the Hurriyat lose trust?
Lone recognised that people had earlier trusted the Hurriyat, but now the reality has changed. “Hurriyat Conference has lost relevance because we could not act,” he said. “So the concept of Hurriyat may have been good at that time… but when we visualise Hurriyat today, it is non-functional and somewhere, Hurriyat has faltered, no doubt about that,” he added.
Criticising Pakistan, the ex-separatist leader said, “Pakistan should help Kashmir in soothing things here, rather than creating fissures out here.”
Shift in approach
While urging for a shift in approach, Lone said, “We need to come out of this mess, whether it is with or without Pakistan, we have to come out of this.”
“The Hurriyat Conference had got a lot of opportunities, we faltered somewhere. And we could have got something for our people, but we couldn’t. That’s the reality, let’s be honest about it,” he added while highlighting the failures of the separatist movement.
On joining mainstream politics
Lone stated that his choice to enter mainstream politics was motivated not by ambition but by a personal belief in engaging in a “genuine political process.”
Speaking about his journey, Lone said, “I have no regrets being on the other side of the fence, but the only regret, which is a very big one, is that we could not do anything. Much could have been done, but we could not…..dair aaye durust aaye (better late than never).”
Lone said that he is not competing for any roles such as chief minister or MLA. “I think I need to pay it back. So for me, it is a payback time,” he added.
The new political narrative must focus on youth, according to Lone. “We have to talk about their future, which includes their education, health facilities, and prospects of setting up business,” he said.
Lone further said that the next generation has suffered the most as a result of the violence caused by the conflict. “Violence has given us nothing. Violence ne yahan par barbaadi hi laayi hai (violence has only brought destruction here),” he said, it has “finished generations.”
He warned that those who attempted to defeat India have “failed miserably” and stated that people must now accept that reality
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