SRINAGAR, May 21: Abdul Gani Lone, a moderate leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, was shot dead here on Tuesday in a killing likely to undermine efforts to bring peace to occupied Kashmir.
Witnesses said Lone was shot dead by two unidentified men while he was attending a function to mark the 12th death anniversary of Mirwaiz Maulvi Mohammad Farooq, who was killed by unidentified gunmen in his house on May 21, 1990.
On that day more than 50 people were killed when Indian police opened fire on mourners carrying the body of Maulvi Farooq.
The gunmen who shot Lone also lobbed a grenade, but it failed to explode, the witnesses said. One of his bodyguards was also killed and another was injured in the attack.
“He (Lone) fell down and started reciting Quranic verses. When the gunmen realized that he was still alive they fired again and he died there,” Lone’s driver, Abdul Rashid, said.
Wailing mourners, many beating their chests and pulling their hair, surrounded Lone’s bullet-ridden body at his residence.
“It’s a terrible tragedy for Kashmir politics. Lone was not only the most upright leader but also the most liberal and moderate leader in Kashmir who is difficult to find in the entire spectrum,” said Amitabh Mattoo, a Kashmir expert.
“He was very vocal against jihadis and those trying to give a religious colour to Kashmir politics. The forces of extremism did not like Lone. He had faced attacks before from those who thought he was trying to generate a peace process.”.
Lone was one of the moderate leaders India had hoped to persuade to take part in elections later this year in the held state.
“It’s a setback to peace in (held) Kashmir,” said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan. “He had expressed revulsion against the killing of innocents in Kashmir. The efforts to normalize the situation, widen the political process, have received a setback.”
But Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said Lone’s death would not strike a major blow to peace moves in occupied Kashmir.
“It should not. It will have an impact, but it should not hurt peace moves. Stronger efforts should be made to bring peace,” Vajpayee told reporters in held Jammu.
“He was working for peace which is why he was killed,” said Vajpayee, who arrived in Srinagar on Tuesday.
The bearded Lone, nearly 70, was the chief of the People’s Conference Party, a constituent of the Hurriyat, and opposed the presence of “foreign” fighters in held Kashmir.
FAROOQ ABDULLAH: The held state’s chief minister, Mr Farooq Abdullah, was quick to point a finger of blame on Pakistan for Lone’s killing.
“Whosoever is a moderate and wants to work on resolving the Kashmir issue is being eliminated by Pakistan. Pakistan wants to annex Kashmir and that’s what they’re doing,” he said.—Reuters
JKLF CHIEF: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Amanullah Khan has condemned the brutal killing of the senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Gani Lone on Tuesday, terming it a great loss for the Kashmir freedom movement, Our Muzaffarabad Correspondent adds.
“I am deeply shocked. It’s a great tragedy and in fact a great loss to the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle,” said the grief stricken Khan, when reached by Dawn over his cell phone.
He said he didn’t know who was involved in the heinous killing, but he had no doubt that “whosoever had committed it, was enemy of the Kashmiris’ noble cause.”
He said Mr Lone had a significant role and contribution towards the liberation movement as the head of the People’s Conference and one of the founders of the Hurriyat Conference.
Amanullah Khan’s daughter is married to Mr Lone’s younger son, Sajjad Lone. “My daughter is also in a state of shock and is trying to contact her in-laws in Srinagar.”
Gani Lone had met and addressed a press conference along with National Kashmir Committee chairman Sardar Abdul Qayyum in Dubai last month. The meeting evoked criticism from the Muttahida Jihad Council, which censured the Kashmiri leaders who “were terming armed struggle futile and harmful and suggesting the fighters to adopt peaceful political means (for settlement of the Kashmir issue).”
HIZBUL MUJAHIDEEN: The murder of Mr Lone was also condemned by Kashmir’s dominant freedom fighter group, Hizbul Mujahideen, which also said it was a tragedy.
In his brief comment, the Hizb spokesman Salim Hashmi said: “Mr Lone was a prominent Hurriyat leader and we feel sad over his murder.”
However, he told that a detailed reaction over the incident would be issued by the Muttahida Jihad Council on Wednesday.
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