With what face should I express gratitude to this great man, Syed Sahib, who always remembered us in difficult times? Whenever my heart was restless and sad, I would immediately contact him on the phone. He would always drop pearls of wisdom and knowledge like a treasure, enriching my soul to the point where my heart would become content. Every time a challenging issue arose, I would find myself on the verge of despair.
But now, I find solace in the fact that they are resting in paradise, surrounded by their everlasting achievements and loyalty to their homeland. I am genuinely delighted about their eternal success in the court of Allah, adorned in the Pakistani flag at their permanent abode. In their separation, my parched heart is quenched by their received messages.
In recent days, I had the opportunity to participate in an important conference, where the names of freedom heroes and their struggles for freedom were discussed. When the topic of your beloved fighter, Saeed Ali Gilani, came up, a lump formed in my throat for a moment. After a while, the breaking dawn felt pleasant. The freshness of morning light was felt deep within my heart, and I offered a thankful prostration.
I felt that all the pain of my soul had dissipated, and the words of estrangement were once again waiting eagerly in line, ready to meet their turn. Once again, we are comrades, compassionate and empathetic, and sorrowful. We are looking forward to embracing each other, hoping to meet, just as we are, with love and open arms. As soon as my statement spread its wings with affection, without delay, it took root in my heart, like a sapling.
All of this was due to an elderly, ailing, and noble man carrying a white beard. My heart had been restless for years, longing for a meeting with the beloved elder whom I had never met. I understand that the heart’s desire cannot always be fulfilled in this life, and I am also aware that I may never have the opportunity to meet them as it once was.
The late Syed Ali Gilani, before stepping into this journey, made a covenant with his Lord, saying: (Surah Al-An’am: 162) “Say, Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. No partner has He. And this I have been commanded, and I am the first [among you] of the Muslims.”
He spent most of his precious years of life in Indian-made Hindu dungeons and, for years, lived under house arrest conditions. In such circumstances, he spat on the faces of all oppressors and presented himself before the Lord who gave glad tidings to such servants in the Quran: (Surah Al-Fajr: 27-30) ‘O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], and enter among My [righteous] servants and enter My Paradise.
In the last decade of his life, where he endured the cruelty of the complete ban on all means of communication, his children were also made miserable. Dozens of times, rockets were fired at his house, and countless conspiracies were made to remove him from the hearts and minds of the people of God. The more he became a soul of heart and soul. Every tactic of tiring him, threatening him and buying him was tried, but every time he was refreshed, free from any fear and defying despair without caring about any danger, he continued to move towards the destination. He left to meet his Lord in the condition of , where the claimants of the greatest democracy in the world were so afraid of this elder that by announcing a curfew, his funeral prayer was banned and the Pakistani flag was ordered to be taken down as a shroud in the martyrs’ cemetery against the will of the martyrs. Burial was not allowed, but history saw that those who loved him all over the world prayed his absent funeral prayer with their tears, And I’ve met hundreds of people who have never met or had the privilege of speaking directly to them.
Due to the curfew and restrictions, this martyr was not allowed to offer Friday prayers in the mosque for years, nor was he allowed to participate in any joy or celebration with any of his loved ones, as if there was a conspiracy to keep him away from Kashmiris. He stood with sincerity as Azmat continued to rain down on him and his appeal to all the men and youths of Kashmir considered it their religious duty to stand with their chests raised in front of the madmen and bullets.
Mentioning others, there was a time when the Jamaat-e-Islami of Occupied Kashmir also refused to support him, and the Hurriyat Conference demanded that he should be removed and another leader of the Jamaat should be given the authority to represent him. The son of a labourer of Srinagar who had chosen a path for himself in his full youth and then walked on this path in the direction of life and never wavered on any occasion. And if you think about it, “O Allah, show us the straight path”, the meaning begins to be understood. Umar refused to bow down to lies and deceit, and no one could provoke him throughout his life.
He knew that the road was difficult and long, but he still remained focused on his priorities and goals. He was exposed to the secret that most of the leaders of the Muslim world are still unaware of, that in the long-term test, the real importance is not success and failure, but good intentions and good deeds. Man is responsible for the struggle and not for the results, the result is in the hands of Allah. First he turned against his own party leadership, long years of struggle and countless sacrifices failed to tire him. He gave a voice to the party workers who, as always, were confident that their motto was that there is no chapter of ambition, hypocrisy and self-interest in the book of life. Applying all his moral pressure, Cross changed the leadership of the party, then he rose against the expedient leadership of the Hurriyat Conference…..against one man, several leaders and groups who had forgotten Pakistan and were willing to negotiate with India. Even knowing who had persuaded them.
The most fearsome and powerful ruler of Andalus appeared in the newly built palace with the courtiers, in which the gold dome was shining. When the others had applauded, the king turned to (Qazi) judge Saeed. “The king is riding the devil on you.” The judge said, “Buildings are not made of gold.” There was a silence between the sky and the earth, and there were hearts that were beating with fear and anxiety. When the king’s voice came out, “Said, people do not have a conscience of Spain for no reason. They would say, “The dome should be demolished”.
Sometimes alone man rises up and changes the scene. Ali Gilani is no angel. For a few moments, admit that he may have had his own biases and poor judgments, not necessarily agreeing with or disagreeing with his every opinion and every action. There is a reason to doubt the intentions of the people, maybe their intellects say what they are acting on? The world has changed unfavourable conditions and obstacles like mountains, but the elder dervish proved to be different from them. He was a man of faith and a man of faith never fades or despairs. He rises above himself and gives up everything for a higher cause. Such people are given as a reward to nations and no one hangs upside down can lose their way, that’s why he became a successful metaphor of freedom struggle.
The helpless leadership of the Hurriyat Conference and the Indians and the malicious Americans who plotted behind it were finally defeated by Syed Ali Gilani when the colonialists were spending all their efforts to isolate the Kashmiris, while the Pakistani government was also tired and other institutions also lost their way. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, as the foreign minister, started a conspiracy with a Kashmiri leader to destroy Kashmir on the American emir, and specially arranged a secret meeting of this Kashmiri leader with Asif Zardari in Washington. As always, with the help of Kashmiris, this nefarious project was not allowed to succeed. When I spoke to him on the phone in those days, Syed Ali Geelani once again expressed his concern to the Pakistani rulers about increasing friendship with India and also said that India, which was threatening terrorism in Mumbai, is now Baluchistan, the border, Karachi and Pakistan. By committing terrorism through their agents in other major cities of Pakistan, they are creating a permanent serious threat to the security of Pakistan and the Pakistani government is dying for friendship with them. And the sad thing is that the issue of the fall of Kashmir also happened during the tenure of Imran Khan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Now it is imperative to conduct a thorough investigation against the culprits responsible for the fall of Kashmir. They should be held accountable, and Kashmiris must be assured that their representative will never disappoint them in the future. Alongside this, the international community must be made aware that the ruthless Modi is playing a deadly game in Kashmir, attempting to change the demographics of the region. If a war erupts in the region, it will not only result in devastation and destruction in South Asia but could potentially escalate into a global conflict. This is not just a concern for Pakistan; it has caused severe distress and anger among other Muslim countries as well. Furthermore, the recent heinous act of Sikh killings in Canada has exposed India’s demonic face to the world.
If serious efforts are not made at the international level to address this issue, the world may face a catastrophic and inevitable war, likely a nuclear one. To avoid such devastation, the only solution is to give the oppressed their rights so that peace can be maintained in the region. The current situation is that India is perpetrating atrocities and barbarism in occupied Kashmir, subjecting the Kashmiri people to inhumane and unethical acts of aggression. Kashmiri civilians have endured this oppression for the past 76 years and have shown resilience in their struggle for their rights. The Indian Army of more than one million and a half (fully armed) cannot and will not be able to extinguish the fire of the freedom struggle. Now the tryka (India, Israel, USA) has also joined in this war.
After ending Article 370 on August 5, India has adopted the same strategy to make Kashmir part of itself as Israel did to occupy Palestine. After that, he lured them and then quickly started buying more and more lands at the asking price and established his authority over more and more Palestinian areas. This is exactly the method that India has adopted in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by abolishing Article 370. The Indian Army enters homes without permission and picks up whoever it wants. Especially young children are taken with them by calling them freedom fighters and after a few days their tortured bodies are taken from another area. In the same way, Muslim women are taken from their homes and after being raped, they are killed or forced women are thrown in an area in the worst condition. Not only this, setting fire to any house, taking things from the house, and vandalizing it has become a routine. The international media is being kept away from Kashmir. Modi has decided that the Hurriyat movement should be crushed by the force of guns. After the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, the Modi government has lost its senses after seeing the freedom spirit of the youth and this is the reason why thousands of youths have been arrested and sent to prisons.
My greetings to Syed Ali Geelani, as a common Pakistani. You have washed away all our disappointment with your actions. For us, he has lit a torch and a light and reminded us that the future of humanity is the devil and spreading despair. It is not in the hands of his workers, but in the hands of Allah, who is the Lord of hope and whose book says in a eloquent way, “Is not Allah sufficient for His servants?” In a special meeting in this conference, when Amnesty International, Watchdog, Human Rights International, Anti-Slavery International and Global Rights were informed about the abuses of Kashmiris, it was found that all these organizations are also concerned about the human rights of Kashmiris and They not only acknowledge the loss of other rights, but are also proud of their steadfastness and once again assured to be active for the recovery of the rights of Kashmiris. Mr. Syed Sahib! Thank you so much that your mention will always remind us of a forgotten lesson.
