The forces allowed the mourning procession to pass. There was the CRPF at the Islamic College post. They did not allow the mourners to proceed, The CRPF men were evidently alarmed at the turnout and the intensity of the mummers anger. They presumably thought the crowds were on the verge of going berserk. It appears the CRPF men took it to be an ordinary procession and not a mourning procession. It could not be due to the lack of coordination. Tempers were already high. The flashpoint was reached when the CRPF tried to block the progress of the procession. That caused the firing to be started. There was an LMG manned by a CRPF man belonging to Bihar. He pressed the button.

Q Some people say the LMG was mounted at the nearby wall.

Ans: No the IMG is kept just in front of the square. I have myself seen all this. So, the CRPF man pushed the button and moved the LMG. Several persons died on the spot. Many were injured.

Three Pall Bearers are killed

So much so three of the four pall bearers also perished. The fourth, too, suffered a bullet injury. He became unconscious. Maulvi’s Sahib’s body fell down. Fresh bullets pierced through the dead body of Maulvi Sahib.

Q: How many were killed? Some put the number of the dead at 117 and some others even at 300.

And: It is not correct. The number of the dead should not exceed 47. Only 20 persons died on the spot and 27 in hospital. These included three women and two children.

Q: You said the police fired due to its wrong assessment of the situation. Jagmohan was unaware of it. But the then Governor fully defended the security force’s conduct. He even boasted that he had snatched Kashmir from Pakistan’s claws and that 90 percent of Muslims of Kashmir were with Pakistan.

Ans: Look I cannot vouchsafe for Jagmohan’s claim that he had retrieved Kashmir from Pakistan’s hands. I feel Kashmir continues to be in Pakistan’s hands. Jagmohan talks of the 90 percent Muslims, I say 100 percent Kashmiri Muslims are against India.

Q Are they in favour of Pakistan?

Ans; They are opposed to India but they are not necessarily in favour of Pakistan. A majority of Muslims say 70 percent of them, want freedom. They do not want to go over to Pakistan.

100 percent Muslims are opposed to India

It could certainly be said that 100 percent Muslims are ‘opposed to India, Neither any senior officer nor any junior one is in favour of India. The public has deep contempt for India.

Q: What do you think of India’s role in Kashmir?

Ans: They have none else to rely on except for guns and tanks.

Q: Is there any other way to satisfy people’s legitimate aspirations?

Ans: There is no chance of any talks. There is absolutely no way out.

Autonomy? Not now!

Q: Autonomy which they promised to Kashmir, and plebiscite on which they backed out.

Ans: Autonomy could have been the way out at an earlier stage, but not now! Now the situation has gone ‘out of hand.

Q Is there any political leadership or political force with which the matter could be sorted out?

Ans: The political leadership was eliminated by the Congress as well as by Sheikh Abdullah. The farce of the 1987 election! Farooq Abdullah is now totally irrelevant. Abdullah has no place there now! Farooq will have to face bullets in Kashmir, let him go there. There are now two forces the JamaateIslami to a large extent and the J.K.L.F, to some extent.

A clash of interests within Kashmir

One could perhaps talk to the J.K.L.F. They will perhaps agree to stay with India. They are secular people. They do not want to join Pakistan, But JamaateIslami is wholly with Pakistan. Pakistan. Every phenomenon has a reason behind it. The leadership of the Pakheld Kashmir is in the hands of Punjabi speaking Kashmiris, Sardar Qayum Khan is a Punjabi speaking Kashmiri. Kashmiri Muslims speak three languages: Muslims of those areas speak Punjabi, the Muslims of Gilgat speak Pahari. Other Muslims speak Kashmiri. The Jamaat leadership is in the hands of men like Qayoom Khan of Azad Kashmir. That is why they do not want Kashmir to be an independent country. In independent Kashmir the leadership will be in the hands of Kashmiri speaking Muslims. In other words, the leadership will pass in the hands of men like Amanullah Khan. That is why I say J.K.L.F. may for once agree to stay in India but not the Jamaat. I do maintain that J.K.L.F. comprises men and women who are not in favour of Pakistan.

They want freedom. They do not want to remain with India let that be made clear.

Q Does that mean an equitable solution to the Kashmir problem in the present constitutional structure of India is not possible?

Ans: Why not? Restore the pre1953 position. Not the one that Inira Gandhi brought into effect

Q: In other words, a true autonomy along with the offer of plebiscite could provide the way out?

Ans; Yes, why not?

Satish Jacob gave us a fairly reliable version as well as his own assessment of the May 21 incidents. But we were keen on having the feel of the situation and wanted to meet the persons directly affected. Dr. Rajinderpal Singh, Gurdev Singh Benipal and Bibi Ranbir Kaur went to Srinagar to assess the situation and to meet the persons concerned. Sukhdev Singh met certain functionaries of the Kashmir movement to have their version of the events and to obtain the overview of the scenario. For obvious reasons, P.H.R.O. is keeping everybody’s identity secret.

An accusing finger towards Shiv Sena

The following interviews were conducted at Chaupura, Rajauri Kadal, Nageen, Khaniyar, Batmaloo and Sonewar localities of Srinagar. The interviewed persons are shown as A,B,C, and D.

P.H.R.O. activists : What is the truth behind the murder of Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq, the firing on the funeral procession and the subsequent developments in the valley?

Mr. A”: We understand that the murder was committed by the Shiv Sena people who were trained by the Indian Government in guerilla warfare and who disguised themselves as Kashmiris. But their accent was NonKashmiri. In the event we hold Governor Jagmohan culprit.

Mr. “B”: The murder took place at about 10 a.m. on May 21 while the Indian Army had been deployed since morning,

Mr. A”: How was it that the Army deployment was reinforced on the day of the murder? The murder was committed by three young men as stated by the secretary and the gardener of the Mirwaiz.

Mr.”: According to the secretary, those three young men entered the residence of the Mirwaiz, conversing with each other in Urdu.

P.H.R.O. activists ‘It appeared in the Press that the brother of the Mirwaiz had stated that they were talking in Hindi,

Mr“A”: No it was the secretary who disclosed that young men spoke Urdu with Hindi accent. It was the Secretary who had spoken to them and who heard a shot followed by several shots from the Mirwaiz’s room.

The procession passes unhindered

Mr.C”: I am witness to the event. Three Youngman with complexion not fair as we Kashmiris are, came in a Gypsy when I was standing near the turning. This vehicle went towards the residence of Mirwaiz, Sometime later, it returned towards the direction it had come from.

Mr.“B”: My brother had gone to Ziri Habbal where he learnt that Mirwaiz had been fired at. Leaving his bike there, he came and told me that somebody had fired at Maulvi Sahib. It was incredible; so I rang up Raja Kadal and was told that the news was correct. Then I phoned Nageen and came to know that the injured Maulvi Sahib was in Saura Medical Institute. 1 proceeded to Saura to see the Mirwaiz. Immediately, curfew was clamped.

After the death, the people took the dead body and proceeded towards Mirwaiz Manzil. Though the curfew was on, the mourning procession passed through six ‘Nagas’ without any intervention by the security forces. When it reached near Islamia College, it was cordoned off by the security forces on three sides.

The mourners were unarmed, peaceful

The unarmed precisionists were mourning for their beloved leader. They were peaceful, but some of them might be angry with the administration as the departed soul was not an ordinary person but

“The mourners were unarmed, peaceful

The unarmed precisionists were mourning for their beloved leader. They were peaceful, but some of them might be angry with the administration as the departed soul was not an ordinary person but was immensely loved by all the Kashmiris.

Mr.‘B’: The mourners were not in hundreds. They were in thousands. The dead body was being carried by the pall bearers when the security forces cordoned it off and disallowed everybody to proceed further.

A youth amongst the precisionists came out and tearing his shirt asked the security forces to kill him or he will proceed to Mirwaiz Manzil, when a Sardar security official shouted, “Kill him”, At this, the firing started.

P.H.R.O. activists: Was the Sardar a Commander?

Mr. A’: No, it was some sepoy. Though the Commander was a Sardar, he was a kind hearted person and did not order the firing.

The pall bearers got bullets in their bodies. Three of them died on the spot while the fourth was injured and his leg had to be amputated in the hospital. The dead body of the Mirwaiz received seven bullets and fell down on the ground as the pall bearers, too, fell down.

The pallbearer, my relation”

Mr ‘B’: I was present in the funeral procession. The pall bearer, whose leg had to be amputated, was the brother of my wife.

P.HLR.O. activists ‘How many persons died and how many of them injured?

All  At least 300400 died and thousands of them were injured. There were only the dead bodies and pools of blood.

P.H.R.O. activists: Please speak one by one. Is there any organisation or a document from which we may get the actual figures?

A’&‘C’: The figures and photographs published in the local Urdu papers like Chattan, Aftab etc. are incomplete. The Press is gagged and cannot give the true picture. Try to get the information from MairajudDin, a photo journalist, who has photographs.

P.H .R.O. activists: Were the dead bodies handed over to their relatives?

‘A’: No, we ourselves took away the dead bodies.

Picking up the dead bodies

Mr.‘D’: The administration, too, took away a number of dead bodies because they wanted to conceal the count of the causalities,

P.H.R.O. activists: During Indian Army attack on the Golden Temple all the dead bodies had been disposed of by the authorities and not a single one was handed over to the next of kin. How did you get the dead bodies?

Mr.‘A”: It was different here. Many of our men died while lifting the dead or the injured during the firing. As soon as there was a pause in firing, the people rushed to remove the victims but were butchered by the C.R.P.F. This way we succeeded in removing some dead bodies while about 100 were removed by the C.R.P.F. and thrown into the Jhelum. The firing was planned and intended to kill as almost all bullets struck the portion between the head and the chest.

P.H.R.O. activists: We have interviewed Satish Jacob of B.B.C. who saw the protest march, the next day. According to him the firing was unprovoked and the number of the dead did not exceed 47.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 28, 1990