In Kashmir, a jailed cleric takes a shot at freedom – by trying to contest elections

On August 27, a 17-year-old girl led a small rally of local residents to a district magistrate’s office in South Kashmir to file the nomination papers on her father’s behalf.

Her father and cleric, Sarjan Barkati, has been in Srinagar central jail for a year, accused of raising funds for militants.

The teenager from Reban village in South Kashmir’s Shopian district, Sugra Barkati, said she convinced her father to contest the Assembly elections as an independent candidate because that was the only prospect for his freedom. “The courts have not given us any relief,” she told Scroll at her home. “If he chose to contest elections, it was not only to push for his release. There are hundreds of Kashmiris in jails. Once free, he would have raised his voice for them too. Because we have seen what it is to be in jail and what it does to a family.”

Barkati’s decision to jump into mainstream electoral politics follows the path shown by Engineer Rashid, Member of Parliament from Baramulla. In Delhi’s Tihar jail since August 2019, Rashid contested the recent Lok Sabha elections from prison and rode a sympathy wave to victory, defeating former chief minister Omar Abdullah. After Rashid was granted a two-hour parole from jail to take oath, many believe his election has increased his prospects of getting bail.

Barkati and Rashid have one other thing in common – both took ideological positions that were at odds with the Indian state in Jammu and Kashmir. While Rashid advocated for a plebiscite to decide the Kashmir dispute even while being part of mainstream politics, Barkati believed in the separatist cause.

In August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded from a state to a Union territory. There have been no Assembly elections held since those radical changes. The first such polls will be held in three phases from September 18.

Nomination rejected

On August 28, a day after Sugra filed the nomination papers, Sarjan Barkati’s nomination form as a candidate from Zainapora constituency was rejected as it “lacked an oath certificate.”

According to a clarification issued by the government, a jailed individual’s nomination form must have an oath certificate duly signed by the superintendent of the jail.

Barkati’s family was asked to produce the certificate by 11 am on August 28, which they failed to do, the government said.

Sugra Barkati contests the version. She alleged that the officials had not told them about the missing oath certificate at the time of submission of nomination form. “When we submitted our form, they said it was complete,” she told Scroll. “The only issue they had was with the signature of my father, which we got rectified.”

According to Sugra, she had gone to meet her father after his nomination was rejected. “He was unhappy. He said the authorities don't even want him to choose the option of elections.”

Nevertheless, he is not likely to give up. A family member told Scroll that Barkati will soon file his nomination from Ganderbal constituency in central Kashmir.

The pied piper of Shopian

Until 2016, Sarjan Ahmad Wagay was known for his religious discourses – and not his politics. A cleric, Wagay had been given the title of ‘Barkati’, meaning an auspicious person, by his religious seminary in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Much like most of the Kashmir Valley, however, his pro-freedom leanings were not secret.

In 2016, when massive protests broke out in South Kashmir after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, his dramatic oratory and pro-freedom slogans during processions of the time brought him fame – and the sobriquet of ‘Azadi Chacha’.

His speeches, however, would also become the source of his unending troubles with the authorities.

He was first arrested in October, 2016 during the police crackdown on pro-freedom activists. The Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Peoples Democratic Party booked him under the draconian preventive detention law Public Safety Act.

After remaining in detention for more than four years, Barkati was released by authorities in October, 2020.

In August last year, Barkati was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police’s Special Investigation Agency in connection with a crowdfunding case. He was accused of raising “huge funds amounting to more than Rs 1.5 crore, with his family making emotional appeals to the general public to support them for day-to-day needs,” an official statement by police issued in August, said.

The police alleged that Barkati, “also laundered money coming from unknown sources suspected to have originated from terror outfits for further use in sustaining the secessionist-terrorist campaign.”

The police identified Barkati as a “known secessionist” who was “ill famous for mobilising thousands onto streets during the 2016 violent agitation, through his incendiary oratory.”

It added: “Known as Pied Piper, Sarjan Barkati used to openly invite and incite youth to take to violence and pull down the Indian state in J&K.”

Besides criminal conspiracy, the police invoked multiple sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Barkati.

Nearly three months after his arrest, Barkati’s wife, Shabroza Barkati, was also arrested in the same case.

In February, the police filed a chargesheet against Barkati, his wife and Abdul Hamid Lone, a Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen militant.

According to the chargesheet, Barkati is “an active ideologue, promoter and supporter of ongoing militant-secessionist nexus, [who] hatched a criminal conspiracy with others, which include his relatives and family members to facilitate, aid, incite, advice, advocate, and promote militant and secessionist ideologies…”

The trial in the case is yet to begin. “The charges haven’t been framed yet. At this stage, the argument over framing of charges is taking place,” explained a lawyer in Srinagar who represents Barkati and his wife.

A childhood upended

The incarceration of her father has taken a toll on Sugra, who has attended more court sessions than classes since last August. The young teenager was in Class 9 when her father was arrested by police in the terror-funding case. Nearly three months later, her mother was arrested in the same case.

“We have suffered a lot,” she told Scroll. “I have lost my childhood shouldering the responsibility of taking care of my brother and visiting courts and jail.”

While her father had been detained for four years without any charges in 2016, it’s the arrest of her mother last year which increased Sugra’s burden. “When my father was arrested, my mother took care of us at that time. People and relatives helped us a lot that time,” recalled Sugra.

With both parents behind bars and a grinding legal fight to seek their release, Sugra somehow managed to pass her Class 9 examination. However, as the struggle prolonged, she quit her studies. “Had my parents been free, I would be preparing for my Class 10 standard examinations this time,” said Sugra.

Sugra has, however, ensured that her 12-year-old brother Azaan Barkati goes to school. “My father had a strong desire to give us the best education but owing to his arrest, I had to quit,” she said.

Financially, the two children are dependent on their maternal home and other relatives. “My father was a cleric and he was the only bread earner. It’s my uncles and relatives who ensure we have enough to live by,” Sugra added.

The 17-year-old, who wants to be a judge in the future, is eager to resume her studies. “I have not found justice from courts,” she said. “That’s why I want to become a judge. I know what injustice means.”

‘A ray of hope’

Like much of South Kashmir, Shopian district is known for its vocal support of pro-freedom politics and disinclination towards elections.

Villagers in Reban, however, say they would have supported Barkati’s choice of standing for election.

“It’s like a ray of hope for his release. His family has suffered a lot,” said a local resident, asking not to be identified. “When the villagers tried to help out his two young kids with basic survival items, they were harassed by the authorities.”

Another villager in Reban said that they did not expect Barkati to work for development or address local issues if elected. “It’s okay if he wouldn’t have been able to do much for the constituency," said an elderly resiednt. “We would be happy if our vote helped him and his wife walk free. Their kids are like orphans without them.”