Ahmed Saeed
In the contemporary world, amongst several ongoing freedom movements, the movement of ‘Palestine’ and ‘Kashmir’ are prominent. Since decades, indigenous residents are bearing the brunt of ‘Israeli’ and ‘Indian’ forces respectively. International peace-keeping agencies including United Nations Organization (UNO) are nothing but spectators on the ongoing conflicts. In Kashmir freedom movement, an era from 2010 to 2016 will be remembered on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) because a young boy named ‘Buran Wani’ joined this guerilla warfare. He had a spirit much higher than mountains and much deeper than oceans. His struggle gave a new rise to the freedom movement and at the same time, he inspired young generation to fight for the right to self-determination.
The boy was born on September 19, 1994 at Dadsara village of Tral area of Pulwama in an upper middle-class family of Muzaffar Wani. Burhan joined the armed struggle on October 16, 2010 to avenge the humiliation when he was severely beaten by Indian troops along with his brother Khalid Muzaffar Wani, who was later killed by the Indian army in custody on April 13, 2015 for meeting Burhan in Tral forest. Since exception to that, he was determined to get basic rights for Kashmiris such as right to self-determination. He wanted that Kashmiris should be independent enough to make their decisions by their own. In addition, he wanted to stop atrocities of Indian military over innocent Kashmiris, continued since decades.
While talking about his way of fighting, he opted unconventional ways. He used latest technology and the internet to promote Kashmiri cause on social media that sent shock waves across top ranks of the Indian army in New Delhi and gave sleepless nights to the New Delhi’s security establishment for more than six years. In addition, Burhan had his own schedule of armed life. He and his colleagues used to sleep in the day and moved from one area to another at night to change their location in south Kashmir.
Additionally, the pictures of Wani and his company’s movements, which were spread on social media, inspired the local young generation. He broke more than 20 Indian army crackdowns with the help of locals which showed the popularity and love of the people for Burhan in Indian Illegal Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJ&K). His political wit can be gauged through the fact that he completely followed up the line of the ‘All Parties Hurriyat Conference’ (APHC) to promote Kashmiris struggle.
By the same token, he became the real face of Kashmiri freedom fighters since 2010 to 2016 on social media. He was the only man in the town who gathered all militants in Kashmir to fight under an umbrella against illegal Indian rule in IIOJ&K. Another quite interesting fact is that he never used a laptop and cellphone twice for sharing and uploading images, posters and videos during his six years of armed struggle. All this bothered to Indian military forces up to the extent that they announced 1 million Indian rupee bounty for the one who would help them to arrest Burhan.
After putting so much efforts, Indian military along with other intelligence agencies succeeded to push Burhan and his colleagues – Sartaj Ahmad Sheikh and Pervaiz Ahmad Lashkari- in the mouth of martyrdom, at Bumdoora village in Kokernag area on July 8, 2016. In the history of Kashmir freedom movement, the martyrdom of Ishfaq Majeed Wani in the 1990s shook the entire IIOJ&K and after 27 years, at the time of Burhan’s martyrdom history repeated itself. Also, his martyrdom gave a new life to freedom struggle in the region.
In the same way, more than 1 million people gathered at Tral Eidgah and offered 40 funerals of Burhan. He was laid to rest close to the grave of his elder brother Khalid Muzafar Wani. Following the martyrdom of Burhan, the entire IIOJ&K was engulfed in chaos and turmoil. The violence continued from July 8, 2016 to February 2017. During this longest shutdown, clashes erupted between Indian forces and protesters in which nearly 100 people were killed, 15,000 were injured and hundreds were made blind by pellet guns.
All things considered, the young boy gave new dimensions to the freedom movement of region. He used updated and latest means to counter the Indian aggression. Being the member of Hizbul Mujahideen Organization, he followed the ideology of ‘All Parties Hurriyat Conference’ and promoted the Kashmiris struggle. Similarly, his tactics against enemies put them into pressure and hence, their sleep was fainted. His funeral proved that he revolutionized the struggle and in response to his martyrdom, many lives got the taste of death. In a nutshell, Burhan made a historic era in the Kashmir freedom movement and one day it will bring the desired result for Kashmiris.
Ahmed Saeed is analyst based in Islamabad.
