MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 4: The Kashmir Solidarity Day is being observed across Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, but in an atmosphere when the alleged flip-flopping by Islamabad on the issue has raised several eyebrows in the Kashmiri quarters.

Some like the hardline Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani have even questioned the “moral standing” of the incumbent regime in Pakistan to observe “solidarity” with the struggling Kashmiris in the face of “unilateral concessions to India on Kashmir.”

“Musharraf government has lost the moral ground and spirit to observe this day. It has sidelined the UN resolutions, strengthened relations with India at the cost of Kashmir so it has no justification to observe the day,” said Mr Geelani, head of his own faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Speaking to Dawn from New Delhi, the aging leader however sounded all praise for the people of Pakistan, acknowledging that they had offered sacrifices in many forms for the Kashmir cause and they had a right to observe solidarity day under a milli jazba.

Mr Geelani said he had straightforwardly told some senior Pakistani diplomats in New Delhi recently that Musharraf’s policy was not in consonance with the traditional national policy (of Pakistan) on Kashmir.

“I told them Pakistan government should support the Kashmir cause morally and politically on the basis of our right to self- determination which is the milestone of our struggle, a right acknowledged by the international community,” he said.

A noted Kashmiri analyst echoed the views of Mr Geelani though with different words.

“Pakistan has suffered credibility loss in (occupied) Kashmir which can hardly be regained by observing Feb 5,” said Arif Bahar, an author of two books on Kashmir struggle.

According to him, there was a time when Feb 5 carried credibility and weight in the Kashmiri circles but now “a lot of water had flown beneath the bridge.”

Tanveerul Islam, a former chairman of United Jihad Council, termed Feb 5 a “ritual exercise” which according to him did not carry much significance for the Kashmiris in the changed scenario.

“Closure of national economy for a day does not do any service to the Kashmiris. Instead of rhetoric, we now need a serious intellectual discourse to find out what we achieved over the past 18 years and what we ought to do to bring peace to the suffering Kashmiris,” said the former fighter, who now runs an educational project for Kashmiri orphans.

A Srinagar-based journalist, when contacted by Dawn, also maintained that many Kashmiris believed that Feb 5 was of no significance for them.

“It’s just a ritual. Nothing to do with Kashmir, except using the name of Kashmir,” said Shaukat Ahmed Motta, a senior staffer at a local English daily, Etala’at.

According to him, “Pakistan’s popularity graph was lowering in Kashmir mainly due to repeated U-turns by the Musharraf government against the wishes of Kashmiris.”

“People here say what Musharraf has achieved by engaging in the peace process with India. All flexibility is from Islamabad whereas Delhi is yet to respond, except of course the trans-LoC bus service which too has been marred by the bureaucratic procedures,” he said.

Motta was of the view that talks with India should be on equal terms without giving unilateral concessions.

“You see, right from 1990 India says Kashmir is the issue of cross-border terrorism. It has made the world take that line and see how many stands Pakistan has changed since 1990.

Mr Bahar corroborated his views saying a sizable portion of Kashmiris believed that Pakistan had left them at the mercy of circumstances.