Syed Ali Shah Geelani issues protest calender on Kashmir for 2011

Forget stone-throwing and violent demonstrations. Calendars have become the latest 'it' tool of protest in Kashmir - at least for separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The chairman of the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference has issued a novel calendar containing details of major killings allegedly carried out by security forces over the past six decades, names of the victims, the genesis of the Kashmir dispute and an appeal to people to support the separatists' "Quit Kashmir" movement.

The 12- page calendar has been published under the banner of the Tehreek- e- Hurriyat Jammu Kashmir - a faction of the conference personally led by Geelani - and is being sold for Rs 25 each.

A sales man at a newsstand at Lal Chowk in Srinagar said the calendar is in much demand. " Some people even buy it by the dozen," he said.

The calendar's first page shows J& K as a separate nation, with the blue and green flag of the Tehreek- e- Hurriyat flowing atop it. The area under Indian control is shown engulfed in flames. Pakistan- Occupied Kashmir and the Northern Areas are shown as a single unit.

The picture is accompanied by a message from Geelani penned in chaste Urdu. In the note, the separatist leader maintains that Kashmir is a disputed territory and it should get freedom from the " forcible occupation of India".

Geelani says the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue is through demilitarisation and the right to self- determination.
" Kashmiris should take a pledge to have faith in their genuine leadership and carry on their struggle for attaining the right to self- determination and freedom from the forcible occupation of India," the January message reads.

In a separate column called " Aap bhool to nahi jayenge? ( You will not forget this, will you?)" on the same page, the calendar highlights the United Nations resolution on Kashmir that was passed on January 5, 1949. The January page also highlights alleged killings at the hands of security forces since 1990.

Another page carries a message from Syed Abul A'ala Maududi, founder of the Jamaat- e- Islami Hind, on Islam and Jihad.

The April and May pages are dedicated to the infamous 2009 Shopian rape and killings of two Kashmiri women, Aasiya and Neelofar, as well as the alleged fake encounter killings of three young men by army personnel in Nadihal village of the Kupwara district in April last year.

The June, July and August pages have been devoted to the summer unrest of 2010. It focuses on the killings of 112 civilians in protests that rocked the Valley last year.

This is not the first time that Geelani has issued such a calendar. The leader had published protest calendars for six months last year, when street demonstrations were at their peak across the Valley.

But it is not just the separatist leader who is enamouring Kashmiris, thanks to his colourful calendars.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah, too, gave Kashmiris another reason to cheer on Thursday.

Abdullah announced the removal of 12 more security bunkers from Srinagar as part of an exercise launched last year to reduce the footprints of the security forces in the Valley.

The chief minister made the announcement after chairing a highlevel security meeting in Srinagar.

With this decision, the total number of security bunkers removed in the Valley stands at 39. Twenty- seven of them were removed earlier by the government in two phases.

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