Geelani held the post for 15 years since the party was formed following a split in the Hurriyat Conference in 2003.
Two persons were killed when policemen fired on protestors in Qamarwari and Sangrama areas of Kashmir valley on Monday, according to official sources.
The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that the deputy prime minister has agreed to hold 'unconditional' talks.
The Centre also favours a dialogue with the Naxalites, said Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
He has been politically inactive of late, particularly since the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year which had far-reaching consequences for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. He has been politically inactive of late, particularly since the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year which had far-reaching consequences for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
"We will be meeting Musharraf on April 16. This has been verbally communicated to us," Hurriyat Conference's founder-chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told PTI.
Highly-placed sources said an invitation will be sent as soon as Hurriyat leaders agree to hold talks with Patil.
'They (the Centre) have been talking in Mizoram to militant organisations... I don't think that option should be closed (in Kashmir),' the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Top Kashmiri separatist leaders on Saturday evening joined the iftar party hosted by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hard-line separatist leader at his uptown residence.
This is the first result of talks between the PM and Hurriyat.
In an interview to Kashmir daily The Rehmat the outfit's spokesman Junaid-ul-Islam claimed the Hizb was not carrying out suicide attacks.
To support tourists affected by the attack or in need of information, Jammu and Kashmir police set up a dedicated help desk at the Police Control Room.
Seven members of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference general council have quit the conglomerate over differences with the top leadership on "restoration of the Hurriyat constitution".
Seeking US intervention, the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference launched a signature campaign to ask President Barack Obama to change America's policy on Kashmir as India and Pakistan have "failed to resolve" the issue bilaterally.
'The only way to proceed forward is India-Pakistan, India-Kashmir and Pakistan-Kashmir,' says Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
None of its candidates won. Most of them lost badly.
With US President Barack Obama visiting India next month, the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference said it would launch a signature campaign on Monday, calling for America's intervention as a third party to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Friday confirmed that Dileep Padgaonkar, veteran journalist and one of the interlocutors appointed by the Centre for Kashmir, had called him for a meeting. "Dileep Padgaonkar called me on Thursday and requested a meeting, which I declined. I told Padgaonkar that it was our stand not to meet them as long as our demands are not met," the Mirwaiz said.
In a communication to the Jamaat-e-Islami leader, OIC functionary Abdul Ahad-al-Aziz addressed Geelani as the chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, sources close to Geelani told PTI.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who was scheduled to visit the United States next week, might not be able to do so as his travel documents are not in order. "My passport has expired and I am awaiting the renewal of the travel documents so that I can travel abroad," Mirwaiz told rediff.com from his residence in Srinagar on Thursday night."I am confident that some positive developments would take place during their meeting," he said.
Breakaway Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was on Friday put under house arrest, official sources said.
Pakistan's ruler Pervez Musharraf and his top diplomats made a U-turn on talks with India after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee released Hurriyat leaders in early 2000 as part of his peace initiatives on Kashmir, according to a declassified US cable.
The ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections as the coalition could not win even a single seat of the 6 in the state.
As per the Simla Agreement, all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan should be treated as bilateral ones, while the Hurriyat has been insisting that it be made a party to talks to resolve the Kashmir problem.
The moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference has urged the Narendra Modi government to adopt the path of Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee with regard to Kashmir.
Three Hurriyat Conference leaders were taken into custody, as police foiled the separatists plan to march in connection with Martyrs day on Monday.
'We expressed our desire that Centre should halt the continued operations against civilians, including cordon and search and other such actions,' he said.
The Centre on Wednesday proposed to hold talks with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference at the home minister's level later this month or early next month.
