Burhan Wani  – A resistive remembrance.

wani-muzaffar
Quoting Derek O’brein, “Burhan Wani has proved more dangerous in his grave than in his living room”. An according statement defining the prevalence of Wani among the emotional mush of Kashmiris, peculiarly youth.
After the endemic police claimed to trace Wani’s phone calls, which lead them to his highly frisked location. A gullibly ridding statement, “He would have been spared if forces knew it was Burhan”, filed in from the situationally ridding Cheif minister Mehbooba Mufti after agitating through the jolt that shook the valley on the cursed evening of July 9. The next dawn, newspaper headline read in reds, “Hizb commander, Burhan Wani ultimately gunned down”. It was a jolt that claimed over 49 lives in just a span of a week. With hundreds subjected to the nights, where in they will never be witnessing the dawn again.
Remembrance is resistance, especially in the land of saints of which Brijesh Mishra had once said, “the only thing straight in Kashmir are the poplar trees”, stressing upon the minds that what these past saints are factually upto.
“History of Kashmir is an evidence to the fact that, we are not using terrorism in pursuit of our moral aims. It is the Indian cavalrymen, who are the propagating terrorism in their forlorn precepts”, narrates the 21 year old Burhan Muzzafar Wani, a studious and perspicacious boy of past. The wavy rigid face grown up in the environment of jubilance, in valley of mesmerising bowl of small hamlets of Pulwama District’s Tral area which currently witnesses a 92% of literacy rate and the ironical scores of youth joining the social aggression.
This highly talked of fellow, belatedly had mobilised the serene war zone as a whole. The brother of the patriotic brethren of Kashmiri younglings carried a bounty of 1 million Indian rupees on his head exaggerating his already heightened farcicality, with Onlykashmir.in reporting this personable bachelor to be the most searched person in Kashmir.
From past 3 years, he remained synonymic with the son of Kashmiri soil. His name uttered as “nyechu“, the son, by every aged toungue of localised tral area.
Brought up in between the spades of war between pseudo-extremists and occupying authorities since 1987, it earned this is 16 year old heightening scholar and budding cricketer as he displays in his last released video, the name of 22 year old, commander in cheif of a robust and rebellion militant organisation, Hizbul Mujahideen, the Burhan-ud-din.
The six years was just he survived of his sophisticatedly avenging life after recurring narrow escapes from doom right away from the September 2010.
Whether i do support the armed freedom struggle or not, it does not matter, All what counts for me is i am bound to support it because my son has clicked on the same” said the lively experienced Muzzafar Ahmed Wani, who is a principal of a higher educational institute, when inquired of sociolegality of Burhan for opting this way.
By the roads piercing through the woods, all the way to tral, we witness camps of combat forces after every kilometre or two. One the way, there lies a desiccated parable of a boy, nonetheless an Intellectualist. His room on the second story his small home in Dadsara, bore the wooden shelves thumped with the books that he had gathered for the fulfilment of his dream of his parents had dreamt of, to be a doctor. The only book that was irrelevant to the medical entrances was the Mirza Waheed’s ‘The Collaborator’ (The story of an ikhwani) lying over the abandoned study desk which would once be scattered all around with notes and reference books of the biology, chemistry and physics. As of exceptions are everywhere where but when exceptions are routinised they are not worth to be called exceptions like that of the Ishaq Ahmed Parray alias Ishaq Newton,19 who was famous for his edged intelligence and being unique to medicine. he had burnt the midnight oil to get admission in a medical college, ended up to be buried in the martyr’s graveyard just a year after he joined the same Hizbul mujahideen. He fell prey of official bullets in Dadsara area of Tral. It is realistically surprising, when their ambitions had a paradigm shift,  to become the martyrs of the society from what they had dreamt of earlier, to be a doctor at least. The bustled market of tral typically consists of successive unending shops with people rushing along the macadamised road.
After struggling with the way for almost one and a half hour from Anantnag town, finally we reach Shareef abad, the place where Burhan’s family resides at present. The place of utmost melancholy.
A woman points with absolute reluctance to the two storeyed beautiful house backing the red gate. Upon hearing the call,the wood carved door opens up and it is the questioning bearded face of his father.
Inside the home of former cheif of Hizbul-Mujahideen, their lie trophies and medals on the polished wooden shelves which stand as markings of how his structure was welded. Diligently posed curiosity was clear cut,  “What led your Burhan to tackle the odds?”
Though the things that contributed to this surge were when Burhan and his brother Khalid were ruthlessly beaten to the extent that Khalid had continuously to be on painkillers for 15 days, such severe was that torture, with them calling upon teen Khalid as a dreaded militant. But instead of marking the personal avenge which have set the tongues wagging about Burhan’s reason of joining the militancy, he started with an expressionless face  “Look, today India is not what it was before 1947, things have changed, perspectives have altered. It was Sheikh Abdullah who favoringly acted as a bridge for India to connect with Kashmir, but when this bridge proved a disguise (as of sheikh repeatedly began to shift his positions from endorsing Indian democracy to demanding a autonomous Kashmir), they took up Mufti Sayeed to be an alternative to him.
If there is a simple fire, what does human mind demand to extinguish it? Water or Petrol.”, “Water obviously”, “But instead of extinguishing it, India is fuelling the fire in kashmir, The fire accumulates to give rise to a volcano building up inside the every young blood“. Nelson Rohilla Mandela once said, “depths of oppression create heights of character”, was what he meant in answer to the reason of his son joining the militancy. The intellectual militancy atleast. Famous for his inciting videos, which have surfaced online on social networking sites and messaging applications, this 22 year old personable bachelor appealed Kashmiri youth to join them. These appealing videos have proven effective in magnetising Kashmiri youth with utter proliferation. Burhan had been successfully moblizing youngesters of intellectual genre especially from South Kashmir. Be it engineers or scholars, this young Hizb group is jam packed with the people of brilliance.
Another newspaper headline reading, Pulwama youth pursuing BTech in Chandigarh joins Burhan Wani. Zakir Rashid Bhat, an engineering student, has emerged as new major intellectual guerrilla.
Aamir Wagay of Goriwan locality of Bijbehara, then a heir of business worth crores too chose a jungle life. The unending list is a dark abyss with fresh recruitments by Wani digging at the darker end.
It is personal revengefulness that has guided our youth to this track. Had Burhan faced any sort of personal torture which forced him to join this way”. When asked to Wani Muzzafar, he replied “Being concise, If a person has some self consciousness alive, he can not withstand and bear the brunt of brutality faced by the mothers and daughters of his nation. In a state like Kashmir, we have bifurcated population. Only a few stand to encounter these atrocious agencies, Burhan has left for the same, (In a determinant tone, he had then said)wo surrender Karnay waloon may say nahi hai, a pause prevails. It’s Naveed Alam, younger and now the only living son of Wani Muzzafar with his father patting his son’s back and seconding the words of his desertion of siblings, “this is all what i am left with” as Naveed serves us Kashmiri noon chai.
The population of Tral is religiously bifurcated, a Sikh guy tells “a man stole some money from Saimoh Gurudwara, later after a lot of time, he had been in touch with Wani, it was Burhan who sent us the money back”.
Another view about his diligence towards Sikh community is, when he issued a notice against the roadsters who used to sit near a tubewell in his vicinity where people would collect water for drinking purpose, which made it uncomfortable for the Sikh women to go there until he issued a notice for not to stay there.
“Tabsay toh Wahan curfew Jaisa hota tha”, he tells laughingly.
While discussing the facts that led to retaliation to atrocities, Wani Muzzafar is no exception with respect to opinion of majority that if every militant is asked his story, he will start with grievances of Kashmir as in A.S Dulat’s view. “He had amazing writing skills . No body else was bestowed with such talent, i guess“, said a classmate of Burhan wani.
“Do you regret of Burhan’s decision of joining militancy” .
An involuntary sigh of regression and he said “Just before Burhan’s matriculation board exams were about to commence, I heard of him about his inductive attachment with militants. Being a father, all I could do was to counsel him. Even I offered him that I will send you to get educated, wherever you want, America or be it Pakistan even, but don’t opt the way you are heading to. And just 10 days were left for the first paper, we lost our beloved Burhan from our eyes”. 
And since then have you witnessed his any track of him. “It was just three months after then, Burhan appeared back to us, exclaimed with joy to get lost son back for his parents, I just asked him then, Finally, Are you tired of it now?. All what he said in return, stunned me about his changed mindset “Aaj Tak Kay 16 saal mere zaaya ho chuke hai, Abu”, he meant in concise. At that point of time, I assured myself that there is no turning back of my pally son now. There was nothing more to be done now” said his father in a pensive tone.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz had once said, “Sheeshon ka Messiah koi nahi, kyon aas lagaye bethay ho”. A history is created. The man who was sole, the young face who represented the rebellion educationists, Kashmiri bloodshed lastly betrayed him too. Betrayed him to the extent that history has been muted and the history that will remain in the books of remembrance. Every now and then had been a face killed, but this face might be never born again.
Are you being involved by army any how?” after marking the despair from his lapsed face of smile, when asked in the gone time. “It is a routine now, after ten or twenty days sudden raids are laid by forces. In beggining, they used to ruin the cupboards etc but now their anger has vented to some extent. Still there is a check on every single thing that, is there a construction or has something been dismantled?” Pointing towards an almirah Wani Muzaffar tells that “We had put a medal on the shelf in the room upstiars, We were questioned and asked that there has been a change with it even, this is how we live” he concludes.
Life was simmering in valley from 1988 when the infiltrations began to trickle in it. And the history repeated itself, it gave birth to a Mandela in every street, a Mandela supporting an armed revolution. A Mandela who was inspired by a famed hero named BURHAN.
His father said, ” I’m waiting for the day when he will return home for his final journey” The day came finally on the 8th of July. None ever like him may not stand as the face of educated Kashmiri youth. A face that became a history. His funeral attended by over 3 lack people with numerous gun salutes amidst such turmoil.
For now separatists have given strike calls. Night long clashes prevailed. Almost 60 killed in just a span of few days. A 14 year old girl Insha, who was shot at in face, leading her to permanent blindness, another little girl, battling for life after she was shot in the neck. Innumerable people suffering pellet injuries, these deadly pellets piercing the stomach, lungs and even eyes which has resulted in complete blindness to almost 40 people, has lessened the value of life in Kashmir. Mobile, internet services have been suspended as usual to curb the protests by stopping the flow of information. Police even created gag at the office of the kashmir’s most circulated regional newspaper to subdue the repercussions of their doings.  Much trolled Umar Khalid updated in solidarity with Burhan, “he was born free, lived free and died as a free man”. 
For police claimed to have Burhan Wani persistently on their radar, so when it was the time when tourists thronged the valley and Amarnath Yatra was at its peak, what was the need to disrupt the peace” said the MP Muzzafar Hussain Baig in an interview. A rumour had gathered that Burhan is in a mingle with army for his unexpected survival, when asked about it, Wani Muzzafar lastly said, “He had friends to deal with, life to be lived, he too had to had a family. Indeed after having every single facility at home, the guy who would be stiff for chicken breast while the chicken would be cooked in, might have been surviving on a piece of bread somewhere with some little water till today, if even that would have been available, still it is gruesome  people among us who label the emotionally forced as financially motivated “. 
But Burhan unlike Maqbool, Guru was more than a human. He is a remembrance, a remembrance which might continue to be resistance. An idea governing Kashmiri youth. A name scribbled on every wall in curfewed markets though might be erased but never silenced among the emotionalism of Kashmiris especially his father who wore a smile, before his death and even after his death.
Umar Farooq Sofi is from Anantnag Kashmir India.
[email protected]

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