Moderate Hurriyat helps with relief efforts in J&K, hardliners silent

Vocal hate-India voices of separatists have gone silent. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and other hardline voices who have been calling the Indian army as ‘occupational force’ are now red-faced. The reason: the army has come to the rescue of the people in Kashmir and is being viewed as their saviour.

Vocal hate-India voices of separatists have gone silent. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and other hardline voices who have been calling the Indian army as ‘occupational force’ are now red-faced. The reason: the army has come to the rescue of the people in Kashmir and is being viewed as their saviour.

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Meanwhile, in parts of Srinagar city, moderate Hurriyat headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has started relief operations for the flood-hit as state administration and police have not proved to very effective.

Hardline separatists are not able to gauge the public mood now. They fear that any call against army or central agencies, which are doing good work in relief and rescuing people, the public could turn against them.
The public mood is against the state government. The army and other central agencies are seen as the Centre’s face.

At Batmaloo, on provocation of Yasin Malik, people didn’t allow army boats to sail in the area. A 70-year-old lady begged to be taken away but army boats moved away.

In old Srinagar, three complexes, two-storeyed each, of the Islamia Higher Secondary School, owned by the Mirwaiz family at Rajouri Kadal, has been converted into a relief camp and the office of Awami Action Committee, the parent organisation of Farooq, into a helpline centre. “This is the biggest camp in the old city. The government failed people once again. It’s people who showed unprecedented resolve and dedication to ensure nobody suffers in this unseen crisis,” Farooq said.