Padma Shri to ‘counter-insurgent’ causes stir in Kashmir

SRINAGAR - The award of Padma Shri to a “counter-insurgent”, who is facing trial for an attempted murder, has sparked a controversy in Jammu and Kashmir. While top officials, including the chief minister, say they did not recommend his name for the honour, the opposition and the common people strongly criticise the move.

“We have not recommended him for the Padma Shri and I don’t know who recommended his name,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters.

The 60-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Mir alias Muma Kanna’s name appeared in this year’s Padma Shri awardee list announced ahead of the Republic Day. The announcement took everybody by surprise, including those Mir claimed had recommended his name.

“The government of the state has not recommended his name for the Padma Shri award,” said Basharat Ahmad, commissioner/secretary of the general administration department in the civil secretariat.

Muma Kanna, as Mir is known in his town and adjoining areas, is facing trial for an attempted murder as well as for other crimes. But Mir said he had done service to the country as he had helped the security forces catch thousands of militants.

When contacted, Mir, who lives in central Magam district and works as a daily wager in the forest department, said: “I was not a militant. I worked as a source for the security forces and I have helped them catch more than 5,000 militants. This is the service I have done to the country.”

Mir disclosed that his name was recommended for the award by Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, state Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir and the chief of the Right to Information Commission Wajahat Habibullah.

While Farooq Abdullah refused to answer any questions regarding the controversy, the state agriculture minister said he had given the counter-insurgent a letter of recommendation, but certainly not for the Padma Shri.

“He came to me some months back and asked me to give a letter of recommendation. I did that, but not definitely something which could get him a Padma Shri,” Ghulam Hassan Mir told IANS.

Wajahat Habibullah, however, told reporters Tuesday that he had given him a recommendation.

“I know him since I was the divisional commissioner in Kashmir and I have given him the letter of recommendation,” Habibullah said.

But people here are baffled as to how an illiterate, counter-insurgent, whose name would trigger fear among locals, could get such a prestigious award.

“He had prompted the security forces to thrash us up when we were covering a landmine blast incident in Magam town in 2001,” said Naseer Ahmad, bureau chief of a New Delhi-based news channel here.

“I was not only severely beaten, but my professional equipment worth lakhs was destroyed by the security forces who were told to thrash all the journalists by this person that day,” he added.

“It is an irony that such a person is given such a prestigious award,” said Muzaffar Ahmad, a college teacher here.

“In the past such awards would be given to those who had distinguished themselves in public service,” he said.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a statement here late Tuesday said that such acts would further alienate the people of Kashmir from the government.

Interestingly, when the award was announced for Mir last month, the criminal investigation department (CID) here took some time to find out who the awardee was.

“It took us some time to find out the person since we did not normally expect him to get such a prestigious national award,” a senior CID official said on condition of anonymity.