Hurriyat should be ignored for at least 2 years: Former home secretary GK Pillai

NEW DELHI: Amid reports that the government may scale down security of separatist leaders in Kashmir, former home secretary GK Pillai told ET, “ Hurriyat should be ignored for at least two years. Their security should be withdrawn. The government instead should empower local panchayats in the valley which will help create new leaders.”

It was during Pillai’s stint as home secretary that one of the separatist leaders, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, reportedly said that the separatist leaders did not need security to be safe from Indian establishment but from Pakistani miscreants.

“Mirwaiz had then remarked that India is a democracy and will not resort to violence while dealing with the separatists,” said a former bureaucrat, who did not wish to be identified. The official further said, “Similarly, we also helped Kashmiri leader SAS Geelani during his treatment at New Delhi.”

Pillai, when asked about huge sums of money being reportedly paid by intelligence agencies to separatist leaders said, “The money, if being doled out, needs to be stopped.” Besides scaling down security, the government may impose restrictions on foreign travel of the leaders who are suspected to have played a key role in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir.

In June last year, the Centre had rejected the passport renewal request of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who reportedly wanted to visit his daughter in Saudi Arabia. The passport was issued two months later and was valid only for nine months, but Geelani never visited his daughter.

Pillai also stressed the importance of empowering the local people and local panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir, and said this will prove more vital to secure border areas and also bring about significant improvement in the state. “At present in Jammu and Kashmir, local panchayats do not have any power and steps should be taken to empower them. This will help bring in a new set-up of local leaders in the state,” Pillai said.

The real benefit of development and funds is not reaching the people on the ground, Pillai said. Home minister Rajnath Singh had a day earlier condemned the stubborn attitude of Hurriyat leaders, who snubbed the members of the all-party delegation who knocked at their doors in Srinagar.

Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even ‘Kashmiriyat’. The home minister on his return from the twoday visit further briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the members of the all-party delegation are likely to meet on Wednesday to discuss their findings during the visit.