Shopian: After four years in jail, Sarjan Barkati is a silent man now. The only words that come out of his mouth are praises for the people who helped in securing his release from imprisonment under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Barkati became a household name in Kashmir in the aftermath of Burhan Wani’s killing in July 2016. He spoke rousingly at dozens of public gatherings in south Kashmir, his eloquence and wordplay earning him nicknames like ‘Azadi Chacha’ (Freedom Uncle) and Pied Piper of South Kashmir.
This 38-year-old man was arrested on October 2, 2016, in district Anantnag and jailed for four years and 17 days in prisons both within and outside Kashmir.
Many of the people who assembled at his home to greet him on his release, some even putting garlands on him, were eager to hear him again, but he refused to answer almost all questions about his experience in jail and instead spoke of the struggle to secure his release.
“I want to thank the media who on and off raised the problems of my family in my absence and I want to thank particularly Sayem Mustafa and his team who worked hard to get me home,” Barkati told Kashmir Reader.
He said that he has almost no information about the people who got him released, neither of their organisation. “I was informed in jail that some people along with Mustafa had come to my home and had shot a video of my children to plead for my release. I don’t know them personally nor have any information about their work or anything else,” he said.
Barkati refused to answer questions about his days in jail and about his future plans. Before getting fame in 2016, he had started his own religious organisation called ‘Tehreeki Fiqro Aetqad’.
“Now I have nothing to say about that. The people out there raised my children in my absence, too care of their education, and I have no words to thank them,” he said.

Raashid Hassan