Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration on Thursday allegedly placed top pro-India and separatist leaders under house arrest to prevent them from visiting the home of former Hurriyat chief Abdul Gani Bhat, who passed away at his Sopore home on Wednesday night.
Bhat, 90, a Persian scholar turned azaadi advocate, was known for his intellectual prowess, distinctive wordplay and refusal to mince words even when speaking about his own people.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were among the top leaders across the separatist-mainstream divide who had to pay their tributes online.
Mehbooba, the Mirwaiz and other leaders said they were locked inside their homes. The Mirwaiz said the authorities compelled Bhat’s family to perform his funeral hurriedly on Wednesday night. “I have been locked inside my home and being denied the right to walk with him in his final journey,” he said in a post.
The Mirwaiz said his long association of over 35 years with Bhat was a privilege and a blessing as it gave him the chance “to know this gentle intellectual closely and learn from his wisdom”.
“A respected academic, an accomplished scholar, and
an upright politician, Prof. Bhat consistently upheld dialogue and peaceful engagement as the only practical way to address the Kashmir issue,” he said.
Omar said he was saddened to hear about Gani’s demise.
“Our political ideologies were poles apart, but I will always remember him as a very civil person. He had the courage to espouse the cause of dialogue when many believed violence was the only way forward, and this resulted in him meeting the then PM Vajpayeeji and Deputy PM Advaniji,” Omar posted on X.
Mehbooba uploaded a picture of a locked gate, saying the decision to place the political leadership under house arrest on Thursday, “simply to stop us from visiting Sopore to offer condolences on the demise of Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, lays bare the harsh and undemocratic reality in Jammu and Kashmir”.
“What unfolded at Hazratbal Dargah, the eruption of spontaneous, raw public anger (following the recent installation of the national emblem) was not just an isolated incident. It was a loud, unmistakable message from a people pushed to the edge,” she said.