Geelani ‘parts ways’ with Hurriyat Conference after 27 years

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 29

After nearly 27 years, senior separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani Monday disassociated himself from the Hurriyat Conference, which is preaching secessionist ideology in Jammu and Kashmir.

Geelani, who was part of Hurriyat Conference since 1993 and was appointed as lifetime chairman of his faction in 2003, has not mentioned the specific reasons for his resignation from the group.

In an audio message and press statement, Geelani said he has decided to “distance himself from Hurriyat Conference in wake of the present situation” in Jammu and Kashmir.

“In this regard, a detailed letter has been sent to constituents of Hurriyat Conference. Keeping the present state of Hurriyat Conference into view, I have distanced from Hurriyat Conference,” Geelani said.

Geelani’s resignation has stoked a debate about how it will alter the separatist political landscape in Kashmir as most of the separatists have disappeared from the scene post abrogation of Article 370 and its corollary Article 35-A on August 5.

While prominent leaders of the Hurriyat Conference were arrested or detained in the wake of the August 5 decisions, which also included bifurcation of J&K state into two Union Territories — J-K and Ladakh — most of their lower-rung leaders and activists remained silent.

A mainstream politician said an era of intermediaries has gone with Geelani’s resignation and “left the space open for youth to deal directly with the government”.

“Geelani wants to prove that he will not compromise on his stand and isolated himself from his colleagues, who were part of his inner circles over the years,” he said.

Geelani, 90, who joined the socio-religious Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in his youth, contested Assembly elections from his native Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district in the 1970s.

However, he founded an anti-India separatist movement in the 1990s and influenced both civilians as well as militant outfits.

Geelani suffers from multiple ailments. He has undergone major surgeries for his heart and kidney conditions in the past.