Sajjad, the lone ranger

Kashmiris’ desire for progress impelled me: Sajad

By Sarwar Kashani

Sajad Lone, the separatist leader in Jammu and Kashmir who much against the pressures from his peers jumped into the electoral fray, says his decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections was “not an easy” one, but he was impelled by the Kashmiri peoples’ “desire for progress”.

Sajad Lone has been the chairman of the Peoples’ Conference since his father Abdul Ghani Lone was shot dead in 2002 by militants. Now Sajad is the first separatist leader of his stature to embrace the democratic process since the outbreak of militancy over two decades ago.

“The decision was not an easy one to arrive at. But I then keenly analysed the ground realities, the desire of the people for progress,” Lone told IANS after he declared his decision to contest from north Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency.

“Kashmiris have signalled that they desire progress and expect the leadership to give up any delusions of grandeur, the peddling of failed methods or escapism, and most of all, to avoid tendencies towards defeatism,” Lone said.

“We must admit that we (separatists) have failed to translate the sustained defiance of the Kashmiri people into deliverance,” he said.

The separatist leadership in Kashmir had failed in its 20-year-old strategy of staying away from the democratic process, he acknowledged.

“The separatist leadership is out of sync with the needs of the present moment. The people now expect a dynamic reformulation of our strategy rooted in today’s realities, challenges and opportunities.”

The decision to contest the polls is with “a commitment to represent the Kashmiris and take the strength and merits of our aspirations to the central stage of India”.

“I am trying to reorient our struggle and bring it in tune with the existing realities.”
Commenting on Lone’s decision to fight the elections, Maqbool Qadri, a political science teacher here, told IANS: “Lone’s differences with Hurriyat leaders, from Syed Ali Shah Geelani to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are well known. His decision is bound to create ripples among the separatist leaders for whom he was already an eyesore because of his moderate image.”

But Lone is unfazed. “I care little for the opinions of my detractors or the cynics who cast aspersions on my intentions.”

“I know the risks involved. But my people will understand the sincerity of my intentions,” he said.

“I stress that the move to fight the parliamentary elections of India is an opportunity to put forward to the public and political leadership in India that Kashmiris seek a resolution to the dispute.”

“For 20 years, we protested to prove that the (Kashmiri) cause is the voice of the people. We have filled Kashmir’s graveyards with the remains of our loved ones; we have packed the prisons of India. After decades of struggle, we still hear the tired excuse that this cause is without peoples’ support and its advocates are irrelevant,” he said.

“I am making an attempt to engage and push for a real process of negotiation,” Lone said.

The multifaceted Farooq Abdullah

Farooq Abdullah in new avatar learns to play

Sarwar Kashani
Farooq Abdullah is apparently aspiring to be a musician now. Though not as good as he is at striking political chords, the doctor-turned-politician of Jammu and Kashmir is learning to hold frets and plucking the strings of the guitar.

In a 1.13-minute video on Facebook, the former chief minister of the state is seen playing a guitar and singing two lines of Hindi song "kaise kahenge hum, kahan kahan kahan kahan - yeh zindagani bahut hi chhoti si kahan kahan".

Like the musical instrument itself, Abdullah, 72, has always been a celeb with versatility. As a guitar is used in a wide variety of styles of music - from death metal to country to classical and everything in between, the entertaining politician of Kashmir has donned many a role in his life like the guitar he is holding in the video-clip.

Once known as a man about town who loved the company of Bollywood queens, Abdullah, a trained physician, is a good dancer who loves to sing - may be in bathrooms only and has been an heir apparent to his father late Sheikh Abdullah's political legacy. He has been chief minister of the state thrice.

A great crowd puller, Abdullah is a good orator also, who may be loved or hated by the media but has never been ignored for whatever he does on and off the political stage.

In the short video, the father of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is seen sitting in the lawns of what seems to be his private residence in posh Bhatindi in Jammu.

Wearing a blue-stripped white shirt and black pants, the veteran politician is getting the basics down and is being instructed by a tutor, not shown in the film.

But he is finding it a bit difficult. Not able to understand which string and fret combinations correspond with which note, Abdullah drops the guitar pick. But as relentless a politician he has been, he restarts again and this time plays better and sings the song in a bit of a husky voice.

With a Punjabi accent, the instructor praises Abdullah's musical mediocrity by saying "fantastic... grand sir... awesome sir". But he has a lesson for Abdullah also. "Sir, kuch nahin hain sir. Jo aapke haath main beat hain na sir, sir woh upar waale haath ka kaam hai, neeche waala haath sahi hai...."

The instructor tries to make him understand the guitar tabs and how to place fingers correctly on the frets, even as he praises his picking of the strings. Abdullah also acknowledges his weakness. "Neeche wala haath theek hai, upar wale haath ko theek kar do (I can pick better but you teach me how to hold frets).

And Abdullah promises to gift his tutor his Spanish guitar next time he visits him. Abdullah, the National Conference chief, is the party's nominee from Srinagar constituency.