April 27, 1998

By setting up a charitable trust, Shabir Shah attempts to outwit his detractors and refurbish his image.

By Suresh Nandi

Shabir Shah and Naeem Ahmed Khan were once compatriots in a united People's League, working together for an independent Kashmir. Today, they head separate wings and are at the centre of a political battle which may well be mistaken for a gigantic property dispute.

Matters came to a head on April 13, when Shah declared that he had accumulated assets worth Rs 1 crore from donations received from the Kashmiri diaspora during the eight years of militancy. To deflect criticism from detractors, Shah said he was donating to a trust the assets, including "four or five bungalows and plots" and about Rs 60 lakh in cash. The trust, he said, would rehabilitate victims of militancy, help marry off girls from affected families and educate orphans.

Fair enough, it seemed. Not quite, retorted Khan. And soon his faction began fielding uncomfortable questions. If the money had been donated to the People's League, it asked, how come property had been bought in the name of Shah's relatives? Of the bungalows, one is in Peerbagh, a prime Srinagar colony, and is registered in his nephew's name. Popularly called "Freedom House", it is under (forcible) occupation of Khan who now terms it the People's League headquarters.

The Peerbagh property is not the sole cause of contention. Another bungalow, on the Rawalpora bypass, is registered in the name of Shah's relative. A third bungalow, in Jammu, was bought in the name of the sister of Shah's brother-in-law. As Khan carpingly remarks, "Shah's personal assets multiplied during the period of militancy though everyone knows that he comes from a humble background." Khan accuses Shah of appropriating wealth amounting to Rs 50 crore.

Hidden behind the acrimony is a larger insecurity. The pro-militant groups -- Shah's faction and the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) among them -- have been losing political ground in Kashmir. The current controversy is seen as an attempt at to reposition themselves and court popular support. Shah, who spent 19 years in prison before his release in 1994, is a bit of a lone ranger. Unlike other separatist leaders who restrict their vision to the Muslim-dominated Valley, Shah seeks to take along with him the Hindu-majority Jammu region as well. This has not won him too many friends in militant quarters.

Shah announced the formation of the trust essentially to pre-empt Khan's charges. He is trying to cultivate a clean image -- as distinct from those of APHC leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Abdul Ghani Lone who are being investigated for FERA violations. Many Kashmiris have been questioning the relative affluence of various separatist leaders, some of whom are known to enjoy lavish lifestyles.

Not surprisingly, the Shah-Khan wrangling has embarrassed -- if not alarmed -- the APHC. Its leaders are worried that the heat will now be turned on them. Already a little-known relief organisation called Hilal Ahmar has demanded that the Hurriyat leaders take the cue from Shah and make a public declaration of their assets.

With the mass hysteria which marked the initial years of militancy -- beginning with the turbulent winter of 1989 -- now absent, the separatist leaders are groping for a new agenda. Their task has been made even more difficult by the Congress, which, led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, is inching towards becoming the main Opposition to Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's National Conference.

Observers are already talking of a possible Congress-Shah nexus. In the recent Lok Sabha polls, Sayeed won in Anantnag, the constituency from which Shah hails. According to intelligence agencies, the Mufti's victory was facilitated by Shah, who got his supporters to vote for the Congress. With the overt setting up of a charitable trust now complementing his covert search for fresh allies, Shah is poised for a new innings on Kashmir's treacherous political pitch. A move, however, that has already been clouded with charges of corruption.

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