After Jamaat-e-Islami members, another separatist leader and the sons of two separatists have joined the fray to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in the Valley.
Syed Salim Gilani, part of the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat Conference, joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday. He may run as the PDP candidate from Srinagar's Khanyar constituency, challenging the National Conference's general secretary and six-time legislator, Ali Muhammad Sagar.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti welcomed Gilani to the party and mentioned that she wanted him to contest the upcoming election on the PDP ticket. However, Gilani suggested that the party field another candidate instead. The PDP president hopes Gilani will help the party in Srinagar.
Gilani said he had been associated with the Hurriyat Conference for 35 years and still feels proud of that connection. He added, "I feel the same pride in joining a mainstream party. PDP talks about all aspects of Jammu and Kashmir—from the Kashmir issue to elections, human rights, and basic amenities. My aim is not just to contest elections but to raise issues of the people and work for them."
In 2005, Gilani, not a prominent separatist figure at the time, was a member of the Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat and was nominated by Mirwaiz to hold talks with Kashmiri Pandits about their return to Kashmir. He quit the separatist group in 2015.
His move to join the mainstream follows last week’s entry into the PDP by Aga Syed Muntazir, the son of Aga Syed Hassan Al Moosvi, president of Anjuman Sharie Shian and a member of the separatist Hurriyat Conference. Muntazir is the PDP’s candidate from the Budgam assembly constituency, which has a sizable Shia-Muslim population. He will be competing with two other candidates from the Aga family—Aga Syed Ahmad and Aga Syed Mehmood. Mehmood is likely to receive the mandate from the National Conference, while Ahmad will contest on the Awami National Conference (ANC) ticket. Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, the MP from the Srinagar Parliamentary seat, also belongs to the Aga family. The contest among the three Aga family members is expected to be closely fought, especially between Muntazir and Mehmood.
Javaid Hubi, son of former Hurriyat leader Dr Ghulam Muhammad Hubi, has also joined the mainstream. Dr Hubi, who left the Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat after several years and remained inactive, initially joined the Peoples Conference led by Abdul Gani Lone. He contested the 1983 and 1987 Assembly elections from Char-i-Sharif but joined the separatist movement after the eruption of militancy. His son, Javaid Hubi, is a lawyer and president of the Bar Association Budgam. He will be the candidate of the Awami Itehad Party (AIP), led by jailed MP Engineer Rashid, from Chrar-i-Sharif in Budgam district.
The AIP is also fielding Altaf Ahmad Bhat, the brother of jailed separatist Peer Saifullah, from Rajpora in Pulwama district. Munir Khan, the brother of jailed separatist leader Nayeem Khan, is contesting from Baramulla under the Jammu and Kashmir Nationalist Peoples Front after losing the Lok Sabha elections.
