SRINAGAR: The death of pro-Pakistani leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has put an end to a chapter of separatist and anti-India policy in Kashmir.
Born on September 29, 1929 in a village in the Bandipora district, Geelani completed his training at Oriental College in Lahore. He worked as a teacher for a few years before joining Jamaat-e-Islami.
Geelani, who was seen as a hawk among the separatist leadership of Kashmir, went on to become an MLA three times from the Sopore constituency.
He won the Assembly elections in 1972, 1977 and 1987. Geelani, however, became an anti-election spearhead after the eruption of militancy in Kashmir in 1990.
He was one of the founding members of the Hurriyat Conference, a 26-party separatist amalgam, but fell to the moderates who advocated dialogue with the Center for the Solution of the Kashmir Problem.
He launched his own Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Kashmir in 2003 after a vertical split at the Hurriyat Conference that he is believed to have designed. He launched his own faction of the Hurriyats after arguing with moderates over allegations of participation by representatives in the 2002 Assembly elections by the Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference.
However, Geelani said goodbye to Hurriyat’s policy in June 2020, saying the second step leadership did not come to fruition after the repeal of Article 370 by the Center in 2019. .
Since 2002 he has been suffering from kidney-related diseases and one of his kidneys was removed due to problems. Geelani’s health has deteriorated over the past 18 months.
Despite being a general anti-current politician, Geelani was seen as a well-educated and civilized politician. His death provoked condolences even from Sajad Lone, who once accused Geelani of making instigating statements that led to the death of his father Abdul Gani Lone.
“A sincere condolences to the family of Syed Ali Shah Geelani Sahib. He was a dear colleague of my late father. May Allah grant him Jannat,” Sajad Lone said.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti also condoled his death.
Born on September 29, 1929 in a village in the Bandipora district, Geelani completed his training at Oriental College in Lahore. He worked as a teacher for a few years before joining Jamaat-e-Islami.
Geelani, who was seen as a hawk among the separatist leadership of Kashmir, went on to become an MLA three times from the Sopore constituency.
He won the Assembly elections in 1972, 1977 and 1987. Geelani, however, became an anti-election spearhead after the eruption of militancy in Kashmir in 1990.
He was one of the founding members of the Hurriyat Conference, a 26-party separatist amalgam, but fell to the moderates who advocated dialogue with the Center for the Solution of the Kashmir Problem.
He launched his own Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Kashmir in 2003 after a vertical split at the Hurriyat Conference that he is believed to have designed. He launched his own faction of the Hurriyats after arguing with moderates over allegations of participation by representatives in the 2002 Assembly elections by the Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference.
However, Geelani said goodbye to Hurriyat’s policy in June 2020, saying the second step leadership did not come to fruition after the repeal of Article 370 by the Center in 2019. .
Since 2002 he has been suffering from kidney-related diseases and one of his kidneys was removed due to problems. Geelani’s health has deteriorated over the past 18 months.
Despite being a general anti-current politician, Geelani was seen as a well-educated and civilized politician. His death provoked condolences even from Sajad Lone, who once accused Geelani of making instigating statements that led to the death of his father Abdul Gani Lone.
“A sincere condolences to the family of Syed Ali Shah Geelani Sahib. He was a dear colleague of my late father. May Allah grant him Jannat,” Sajad Lone said.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti also condoled his death.