M A I N   N E W S

Geelani heads breakaway Hurriyat group
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 15
Senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been unanimously elected chairman of the breakaway group of the Hurriyat Conference, a week after the split in the separatist conglomerate.

An announcement to this effect was made by interim chairman Masarrat Alam Bhat in the presence of Geelani here this afternoon. Alam said he had tendered his resignation from the interim chairmanship of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference.

He said going by the decision of its general council members, he had requested Syed Geelani to be the new chairman of the APHC.

Accepting the offer, Geelani said it was the unanimous decision of 15 general council members. He said he would continue to work for the “cause of Kashmiris”, as he had been doing as chairman of the Hurriyat Conference for more than two years, and other positions.

Geelani said as a member of the State Legislative Assembly for about 15 years, he had also worked in accordance with the aspirations of the people.

The 15-member general council of the Hurriyat Conference was attended, among others, by the Peoples League, while the Jamaat-e-Islami and the pro-independence JKLF did not attend the meeting. Geelani said that prior to the decision of the general council, its members had contacted all the constituent members of the Hurriyat Conference, including Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other constituents of the general council.

Claiming that his group was the “real Hurriyat Conference”, Geelani said the new leadership favoured tripartite talks under UN resolutions to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Geelani said he had been kept under house arrest for several hours since 7 a.m. today. He added that the Border Security Force (BSF) had raided his house some days ago and he was being harassed. He alleged that the Government of India wanted to “physically eliminate” him.