If Pakistan had any sincerity in mending fences with India, it would not have sent Jilani to India after he had been unceremoniously kicked out though funding separatists by him was obviously at the behest of Pakistan

Jalil Abbas Jilani meeting hardliner separatist leaders of Kashmir headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani of Jamat-e-Islami (JeI) in New Delhi recently ahead of his meeting with his Indian counterpart evoked much media commotion.

There were comments that the Indian Government is likely to convey its displeasure to Pakistan – speculation that never materialised. The Foreign Secretary level talks came in the wake of startling disclosures by Abu Jundal concerning the Pakistani Military and ISI direct involvement in planning and executing the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai emphasised that terrorism was the biggest threat to peace and security in the region and bringing the guilty to justice in the Mumbai terror attacks would be the biggest CBM of all, adding that arrest and ongoing interrogation of Abu Jundal has added urgency to the matter.

Jilani responded by saying, “I very strongly reject insinuations of the involvement of state agencies in terror against India”. Jilani meeting separatist leaders is like the second Jilani-Geelani nuptial. Having been caught funding Kashmiri separatists as High Commissioner of Pakistan he had been expelled from India nine years back – February 8, 2003, to be exact and given 48 hours to leave the country.

While Abu Jundal has disclosed state agencies of Pakistan had even supplied ammunition for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Jilani had continued to supply funds to Geelani and his cohorts even after the December 2001 Parliament attack. If Pakistan had any sincerity in mending fences with India, it would not have sent Jilani to India after he had been unceremoniously kicked out though funding separatists by him was obviously at the behest of Pakistan. What he parroted, like most Pakistani politicians and bureaucrats, was what the Pakistani Military-ISI wanted for keeping his seat secure in Pakistan. What instructions he would have whispered when hugging Geelani and gang is no surprise either as immediately thereafter a spokesman of JeI was declaring dress regulations for tourists in Kashmir.

Even Umar Farooq hallucinated he was the tourism minister and was passing judgement Israelis should not be permitted in India since they were killing Muslims. Doesn’t he know that thousands of Muslims killed in Pakistan are by Muslims, the horrifically brutal periodic killing of Shias within Pakistan and the state-sponsored genocide against them in Gilgit-Baltistan in PoK? Why then should Pakistanis be allowed in India and why did he travel to Delhi to hug Jilani – to collect his pay packet?

Slush with Pakistani funds, Geelani and cohorts are celebrities even though spewing venom against India; master Geelani maintains a Facebook page for tourists alleging Kashmir was never part of India and that India since 1947 has killed half a million people in Kashmir, 10,000 gone missing, 7,000 women dishonored, 2,700 mass graves discovered, 50,000 children orphaned, 35,000 women widowed and 1,465 Kashmiris languish in jails.

This indigenous Fai doesn’t mention the marauding hordes of Pakistani terrorists who right from 1947 have raped or forcibly married how many Kashmiri women, flooding the Valley with AIDS. Are terrorist attacks on the military including the recent one in Pampore side effects of the Jilani-Geelani honeymoon? Do we really believe Pakistan will accept her own nationals were responsible for 26/11 terrorist attack and punish them? The fact is that radicalisation of Pakistan is being systematically upgraded through institutionalised mechanisms.

Northern Army Commander’s warning of scores of terrorists in training camps in POK awaiting chance to infiltrate is just tip of the iceberg. We could perhaps learn from France and Australia how to deal with separatists. The least we can do is to ensure their faces are blackened every time they appear in public.

The views expressed herein are the personal views of the author.