Abdul Hakeem [Hakeem - Paradise on Fire: Syed Ali Geelani and the Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir

PARADISE

ON FIRE

In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

PARADISE

ON FIRE

Syed Ali Geelani and the Struggle
for Freedom in Kashmir

Abdul Hakeem

Paradise on Fire: Syed Ali Geelani and the Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir

Published in England by

Revival Publications

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The right of Abdul Hakeem to be identified

as the author of this work has been asserted

by him in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-0-95367-684-2 paperback

ISBN 978-0-95367-685-9 casebound

ISBN 978-0-95367-686-6 ebook

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover design: Fatima Jamadar

Book design: Naiem Qaddoura

Typesetting: Abu Abida

Printed by IMAK Ofset, Turkey

CONTENTS

When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. Nelson Mandela

PEACE IS A universal human yearning. Every society and every people need peace in order to flourish and to develop their resources, both individually and nationally. Nor is peace the mere absence of war. For peace of heart, mind and society can only exist when accompanied by the weighty presence of justice.

More than fifteen million people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have been denied justice for the past six decades. Kashmiris exist in a permanent state of violent occupation by Indian forces. An occupation that, at this time, has 800,000 troops, controlling a region of breathtaking natural beauty. The violence of these troops has turned a place of mountains, valleys and rivers, once known as Paradise on Earth, into the largest open air prison in the world. A civilian pressure cooker that would be instantly recognizable to the people of the Gaza Strip. In Kashmir, non-violent protests for water, electricity and the freedom to travel, are met with the bullets of the occupying troops. And accompanied by the threat of imprisonment. Meanwhile, the international community looks on, shakes its head, expressing concern, issuing reports and effectively doing nothing.

The Indian research scholar Abdul Hakim has produced a comprehensive study of the nature of the Kashmir struggle for freedom in providing a biography of its most vibrant voice, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, showing his vision and determination. For the past two decades, Syed Geelani has been the primary symbol of the Kashmiri peoples efforts towards self-determination. Like other great figures of our age, men who have committed themselves to fighting apartheid and occupation, Nelson Mandela and Shaykh Raed Salah of Palestine (to name but two), Geelani is no stranger to incarceration. His galvanising calls for a widespread non-violent resistance, including strikes, have seen him imprisoned for sixteen years in a variety of regional gulags.

This book, then, is the story of one mans self-sacrifice told through the struggle of an entire people. Paradise on Fire is a call to the conscience of humanity. I pray that people from every part of the world will respond to this call and join the Kashmiri people in their non-violent resistance to oppression and occupation.

Free Kashmir, free Palestine!

Lauren Booth

London

October 2013

WALTER SISULU, the long-time comrade of Nelson Mandela, and for twenty years his prison mate, urged Mandela on his 57th birthday (18 July 1975) to write his memoirs: such a story, told truly and fairly, would serve to remind people of what we had fought and were still fighting for and be a source of inspiration for young freedom fighters. That prompt explains my motivation for narrating Syed Ali Geelanis contribution to the Kashmiri freedom struggle. The Economist (29 December 2010) referred to Geelani as the highest-profile Kashmiri leader and elderly icon, and doubted that anyone among a handful of potential successors could command as much local respect.

The Arab News (17 August 2010) declared him the undisputed leader of the insurgency and confirmed that India has consistently tried to court him but he has refused to take the bait. Geelani has spent over sixteen of his eighty-three years of life in prison, and written (in Urdu) about thirty books. The second edition of his autobiography Wular Kinaray (On the bank of Lake Wular) was released in July 2012. Its first edition was completely sold out within a week. Those who were keen to read it included [] civil and military elites of every shade of opinion (review in Greater Kashmir, 30 July 2011). However, the story of his self-sacrificing contributions to freedom and justice in Kashmir has not been communicated plainly to the wider audience that can be reached by writing in English.

I have known Geelani for about twenty years and had dozens of meetings with him. Of course, he is not my only source. I have sought information from a variety of public and private sources, especially those close to Geelani. For reasons of confidentiality and security, I have withheld the dates and venues of personal interviews and other detail about some of my sources. This book is the outcome of decades of closely following events in Kashmir, and some four years of reflection and further enquiry during the writing. I have strived to present Geelani as he is, without seeking to build him up as a hero or a vilian.

I have done my best to cover briefly the major events of Geelanis political life. My narrative does not follow a strictly chronological line; it is, instead, arranged around broad topics that are crucial to understanding Geelani and the Kashmiri freedom movement over the last quarter century. While he is not present on every page, Geelanis own views are cited or referred to throughout the book.

Geelani took on the might of India and almost single-handedly put the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) dispute on the international stage. His personality can be summed up in Nelson Mandelas words: time and again, I have seen men and women risk and give their lives for an idea. I have seen men standing up to attacks and torture without breaking, showing strength and resilience that defies the imagination. Geelani has dedicated a lifetime to advocacy of justice and piety; that is why this book cannot just be an individuals life story, it has to present the major ideas that he has lived and sacrificed for.