From the memoir: A former Director General of J&K Police recalls the Hazratbal siege of 1996
An excerpt from ‘Kashmir Under 370: A Personal History by J&K’s Former Director General of Police’, by Mahendra Sabharwal and Manish Sabharwal.
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The surrender of the militants in 1993 punctured the early bluster of the Hurriyat spokesperson Abdul Ghani Lone, who said, “If armed forces storm the shrine, we will win. If they withdraw, we win.” He admitted later that “the end of the episode was not according to the wishes of the Hurriyat conference”. We knew that televising the militants’ surrender would create dissent, and predictably, the bickering soon began. The Jamait-ul-Mujahideen told local newspapers that the Hurriyat’s “coffin sellers” had let the people of Kashmir down, and the Hizbul Mujahideen said, “We gave them guns to use rather than surrender.” I observed many personal jeers and sneers in local circles about the militants’ cowardice in surrender, their inability to live up to their lofty talk, and for coming out at night with their hands above their heads. As my friend Sati Sahni wrote, “Hazratbal was a god-sent opportunity for the Hurriyat leadership, but the lack of imagination, factional rivalry, inept reflexes and incorrect appreciation of the situation meant they failed to capitalise on it.” Pakistan clearly agreed, as their proxies soon killed Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Lone.
