Two terror victims in Kashmir poll fray

AG Lone’s son is contesting from Baramulla, Aga Mehdi’s son from Srinagar

Srinagar: Six of the most prominent candidates contesting the current Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir include the sons of the two slain politicians. While the mainstream-turned-separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone’s son, Sajad Lone, is contesting his second Parliamentary election on behalf of his Peoples Conference (PC) from Baramulla, prominent Shia leader Aga Syed Mehdi’s son, Aga Syed Ruhullah, is contesting his first Lok Sabha election on the National Conference (NC) ticket from Srinagar.
AG Lone, a former Congress Minister who served four terms as MLA from Handwara, was gunned down by terrorists in broad daylight at the sprawling Eidgah Grounds in Srinagar when leaders of the separatist Hurriyat Conference were holding a remembrance ceremony for Mirwaiz Mauvi Mohammad Farooq on 21 May 2002. Two of his personal security officers (PSOs) from the Jammu and Kashmir Police were also killed in the shootout.
Aga Syed Mehdi of Budgam’s influential Shia spiritual Aga dynasty was assassinated by terrorists in an improvised explosive device blast near Kanihama, on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road, when he was driving from Budgam to Magam in a bullet-proof Gypsy of the J&K Police on 3 November 2000. He was blown into pieces alongwith three of his PSOs and two of his civilian followers.
Upon his father AG Lone’s assassination, Sajad Lone engaged himself into politics. However, Hurriyat recognised none other than AG Lone’s elder son Bilal as his successor and representative of the PC in the separatist conglomerate. The main reason for refusal to Sajad’s recognition was his statement in which he directly blamed the valley’s separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Pakistan’s Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI) for his father’s assassination.
Even as Sajad later withdrew his allegation, he found it difficult to create some space in the separatist camp. In the Assembly elections of October-November 2002, in which the senior Lone’s close associate Ghulam Mohiuddin Sofi defeated the NC stalwart Choudhary Mohammad from Handwara, Geelani alleged that the PC had contested the elections “by proxy”. As Sofi was inducted as a Cabinet Minister in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP-Congress coalition, Geelani stressed on the PC’s expulsion from Hurriyat.
While the Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar refused to proceed against the PC, Geelani moved out and launched his own faction of the Hurriyat. It caused the first split in the separatist amalgam in 2003.
In the summer turmoil of 2008, Bilal Lone continued with the Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat. Sajad supported the separatist agitation but Geelani’s loyalists did not let him occupy any leadership role. In 2009, he shifted to the mainstream politics and contested his first Lok Sabha election but was defeated by the NC’s Shariefuddin Shariq.
Sajad fielded a retired officer of Doordarshan, Abdul Salam Bajad, on the PC’s ticket from Baramulla in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. He, however, lost to the PDP’s Muzaffar Hussain Baig. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, Sajad gave PC’s ticket to the retired IGP Raja Aijaz Ali but he lost to the NC’s Mohammad Akbar Lone.
However, Sajad contested and won his first Assembly election on the PC’s ticket from Handwara in 2014. His PC was the BJP’s only pre-poll ally in Jammu and Kashmir. Upon his victory, in which he defeated the NC stalwart Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad was inducted in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP-BJP coalition as a Cabinet Minister from the BJP quota. PC’s another candidate Bashir Ahmad Dar was returned from Kupwara.
After Mufti’s death in January 2016, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti retained Sajad in her Cabinet.
After the breakdown of Mehbooba Mufti’s government, Sajad laid his claim to the formation of a coalition government. He claimed to be enjoying the BJP’s support. However, then Governor Satya Pal Malik did not entertain his claim and he dissolved the Assembly.
Sajad was among the mainstream politicians who joined Farooq Abdullah-led Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) for safeguarding of Article 370 and were detained under Public Safety Act in August 2019. In 2020, Sajad’s PC contested the District Development Council (DDC) elections as per a quota allocation from the PAGD. However, soon he quit the PAGD and continued his activities separately under the banner of his PC.
In the current Lok Sabha elections, Sajad is being supported by Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party besides former Minister Hakeem Yasin and the DDC Budgam chairman Nazir Ahmad Khan. His top rival is the former Chief Minister and the NC vice president Omar Abdullah.
AG Lone was returned as MLA of Congress party from Handwara in 1967 and 1972. He also served as a Minister. In 1977, he was returned from Handwara as a candidate of Janata Party. In 1983, he contested from Handwara as the PC candidate but lost to the NC’s Choudhary Ramzan. He was however returned from Karnah in the same election. After 1990, AG Lone functioned as a senior leader in the Hurriyat Conference.
After his father Aga Mehdi’s assassination, Aga Ruhullah joined the NC. He was returned from Budgam on the NC’s ticket in the Assembly elections of 2002, 2008 and 2014. In 2009-14, he served as a Cabinet Minister in Omar Abdullah’s NC-Congress coalition.
Ruhullah’s father Aga Syed Mehdi contested the Assembly elections as an independent candidate from Budgam in 1987. He was defeated by the NC’s Ghulam Hussain Geelani in a triangular contest. In 1998, he contested the Lok Sabha election on Congress ticket from Srinagar but lost to the NC’s Omar Abdullah.

Updated On 4/29/2024 2:45:08 AM