Srinagar, Oct 4: Former separatist leader Bilal Ahmad Lone on Sunday called for moving beyond the contentious debate over accountability and focusing on securing the future of the younger generation, asserting that revisiting the past repeatedly will not help Jammu and Kashmir move forward.
Lone, who has signalled a shift toward mainstream politics to stake a claim to the legacy of his slain father, Abdul Gani Lone, made the remarks while participating in the 5th ‘Halla Bol’ conclave organised by a news portal here.
He shared the stage with Congress MLA Ghulam Ahmad Mir and former J-K BJP president Ravinder Raina.
Responding to a question on accountability for the human cost of three decades of violence in J-K, Lone said the political discourse should take into account the sufferings of the affected families and not politicise the dead.
“We have lost more than one lakh lives; our homes have been severely affected. It’s a different argument whether those one lakh people were on the right path… They are in their graves now. What we need to do is give those people some sense of peace and consolation,” Lone said.
He argued that repeatedly questioning the past will not provide solutions for the younger generation.
“These last few questions will not achieve anything,” he said, adding that the focus should instead be on finding a way forward.
Lone’s remarks came in the context of a wider discussion on the political legacy of the conflict, the role of separatist politics and the need to rebuild trust among the people of Kashmir.
“The priority should be to ensure that the next generation does not inherit the same cycle of uncertainty and conflict… No graveyards anymore,” he said, stressing that what matters now is finding a path forward for those who remain.
He said the families of those killed, particularly those belonging to economically weaker sections, were the ones who had borne the consequences of the conflict.
“There is a need to acknowledge the sufferings of these families rather than turn the deaths into another political argument,” he said.
Referring to the political situation in J-K, Lone said people remained bound together before August 5, 2019 (when Article 370 was revoked), but the priority now should be to find a way forward.
However, rather than getting caught up in questions of accountability over the past, Lone said the emphasis should be on the future.
“I think we need to move forward. Our way forward will create a path for us,” he said.
Referring to his decades-long association with the moderate Hurriyat Conference, Lone said the amalgam made a great effort to carry forward dialogue by meeting both the Congress and BJP governments time and again for a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir problem.
“We were in politics, we are in politics, and, Insha Allah (god willing), we will remain in politics. For us, it is not merely about electoral politics,” Lone said, indirectly defending his decision to shift to mainstream politics.
As a society, he said, “we will try to revive the Kashmiri identity and the Kashmiri character that we have. We want to find a better path for the new generation. That is our aspiration; that is our mission”.
He skipped a direct reply to a question on whether the Hurriyat leadership, including its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and JKLF chief Yaseen Malik should apologise to the people of J-K, saying people should realise that their real benefit lies in the democratic process.
“People will have to come together and do something collectively. That’s it,” he said.
Answering another query, he said the situation under the BJP remained tough.
“Working in BJP’s time, to be honest, it is a bit tough. I have concluded that, in the Valley, the basic thing is very simple – we have to restore the trust of the Kashmiri people. And how can that trust be restored? You have to go to the people and build a relationship with them,” he said.
Lone said he assessed that people would gradually understand the need for rebuilding this relationship, as they listen to what their elected representatives say.
A large section of the Kashmiri population continues to face difficult circumstances, while only a relatively small section is economically and politically better placed, he said.
