Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the hard-line faction of Hurriyat Conference, was arrested by the police outside a hospital in Srinagar on Friday evening, official sources said. Geelani was arrested outside SMHS hospital, where he had gone to enquire about the condition of Faizan Ahmad, a 14-year-old boy injured in police firing during a clash at Maisuma in the state capital, they said. The separatist leader sponsored a general strike in Srinagar today.
Ten persons, including six policemen, were injured in protests in Srinagar where the hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for a shutdown Friday.
A Delhi court is likely to take a decision on March 10 on a plea seeking a direction to the police to file a chargesheet in a case lodged against hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer Arundhati Roy and four others in a case of sedition for their alleged anti-India speeches.
Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained by the police at the Srinagar airport and put under house arrest soon after his arrival from New Delhi. In the national capital, the chairman of the hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference was questioned by the Delhi police in connection with a hawala case. "He was detained at the airport and put under house arrest soon after his arrival from Delhi," said the party spokesperson.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday asked fire-brand separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani not to make 'false claims' about being detained by the Delhi police.Rubbishing claims of separatists that Geelani had been detained in Delhi, he said the separatist leader was 'completely free' and even takes his morning walks."He has been told to not to leave the city until he records his statement in connection with the alleged hawala case.
Senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been asked by probe agencies not to leave Delhi to face investigations in connection to the recently unearthed Hawala money trail in Kashmir.The Hurriyat faction led by Geelani, who is a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, attempted to downplay the investigations in the Hawala case. The outfit also called a bandh in the Valley on Tuesday for the 'harassment' of their leader in Delhi.
"Quiet diplomacy is secret diplomacy where few people will decide things and force a solution on people of Jammu and Kashmir against their aspirations, sacrifices and 62-year struggle," Chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani said at a function in Srinagar.
Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday said the Centre's offer of a 'quiet' dialogue is aimed at thrusting a compromise solution on the people of the state.
The moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference on Sunday welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer to engage separatists for talks on Kashmir issue, and said it had no conditions as "dialogue and conditionalities don't go together".
Chairman of Hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik were detained on Sunday when they tried to march to Handwara in north Kashmir, where situation was rife after army shot dead a suspected militant.
Rejecting Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's offer of talks, pro-Pakistani hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday said that the solution to the Kashmir issue lies in tripartite talks, aimed at giving the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Commenting on the statement by Chidambaram that the Centre is ready for talks with all shades of political opinion in the state, the hardline separatist leader said, "There is nothing new."
Authorities have decided to impose curfew in north Kashmir's Baramulla town after a 13-year-old boy was killed and eight others wounded in clashes after the prayers on Friday between the state police and protestors, who were agitating against the house arrest of hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
'PM Modi would have swept the elections in Kashmir after notebandi but then he scrapped Article 370 so all his good work went down the drain.'
In a new twist ahead of Indo-Pak National Security Advisor-level talks, Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah, was detained on arrival at the Delhi airport and will not be allowed to meet Pakistan's Sartaj Aziz on Sunday.
A mob set a school bus on fire in Khanyar area of Srinagar on Saturday, official sources said. A group of people stopped a bus belonging to a private school near Rangerstop in Khanyar area on Saturday morning and asked the driver and students to get off. They set the bus on fire.
A delegation of members of Parliament and civil society members, who are on a "fact-finding" tour of Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday asked the Centre to start a dialogue process for resolution of Kashmir issue and include separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani in it.
Writer Arundhati Roy, Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others were booked on charges of sedition by Delhi Police for their "anti-India" speech at a seminar in Delhi. They were charged under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (false statement, rumour circulated with intent to cause mutiny or offence.
A little-known Kashmiri separatist leader is spurring the stone-throwing protests against security forces in the Kashmir Valley with tactics such as YouTube recruitment videos and protest calendars published in the local media.
The Hartal was in protest against the article published in a Denmark daily "Jyllands Posten" against Prophet Mohammad.
The arrest came minutes before Geelani was scheduled to address a press conference regarding the ongoing protests against the alleged rape and murder of two young women in south Kashmir Shopian town on Saturday last.
After remaining shut for 100 days, schools in Kashmir Valley reopened on Monday, with students and teachers given a free passage by security forces despite curfew and restrictions in many parts. However, attendance was thin against the backdrop of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call to parents not to send their wards to schools and colleges. The education system in the valley had become a collateral damage in the ongoing unrest.
With educational institutions all set to reopen on Monday in Kashmir Valley, the hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, on Sunday asked parents not to send their wards to schools and colleges. "No right thinking person can deny the importance of education in society, but to think that they (government) are concerned about the future of our children is like a mad man's dream," Geelani said in a statement.
LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan on Thursday said he favoured autonomy for Kashmir and withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the region.
Curfew remained in force in Kashmir Valley for the 11th day on Wednesday even as the death toll in the ongoing agitation rose to 104 after a youth succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Srinagar.
In a bid to break the current impasse, teams of the all-party delegation to Kashmir on Monday separately met Hurriyat leaders and gave them a patient hearing but the separatists insisted on withdrawal of Army and asked the Centre to take bold decisions instead of being in a "denial mode".
Authorities in Srinagar have placed breakaway Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani under house arrest, apprehending trouble in view of his scheduled visit to north Kashmir's Kupwara district, where a teacher was shot dead by soldiers on Friday.
The Indian Army on Thursday asked Kashmiris not to pay heed to the call given by hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to march towards the security forces' camps in the Valley on September 21 to press for demilitarisation of the state.
Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Tuesday said the all-party meet in New Delhi is unlikely to help improve the situation in the Kashmir Valley as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech did not touch on the core issue of Kashmir.
The hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has issued a curious 11-day protest schedule asking people of Kashmir to carry out normal activities from dusk to dawn on strike days. As per the schedule, only two days -- September 19 and 22 -- have been exempted from strikes and protests by the Geelani-led Hurriyat faction, which is spearheading the ongoing agitation in the valley.
Kashmiris thronged the markets on Sunday to shop for the festival of Eid, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramazan at the end of this week. Today was the last day of normalcy in the valley, as separatist leaders have called for a three-day shutdown from Monday. Hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who draws up the protest calendars, has called for a 'Quit Kashmir Campaign'.
Varun Gandhi has been gaoled for reportedly making provocative statements. Would any ministry, ever dare apply the same draconian laws against the Hurriyat Conference chairman?
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday and restrictions were put in place in other towns to thwart a march called by separatists.To protest the killing of three teenagers allegedly by the police, the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to march to south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Monday.The forces beefed up security arrangements in the old city area of Srinagar.
In a related development, protests continued for the second day in north Kashmir's Kangan town, where protesters shutdown markets and blocked the highway leading to the Baltal base camp of the ongoing Amarnath Yatra.
Authorities on Thursday booked hard-line Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani under the stringent Public Safety Act and placed moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq under house arrest to foil their planned all-party meet to chalk out the future course of action. "We have booked him (Geelani) under PSA. There are a good number of grounds (for detention) against Geelani. I have signed the PSA warrant against Geelani and as per the orders," said the DM.
The strike called by hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani resulted in a shutdown and curfew-like situation in the old parts of Srinagar on Monday, marking the fourth day of protests since the death of a 17-year-old student.
The Army on Monday rubbished allegations levelled by hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani that the force was trying to hush up the alleged rape of a woman by two men in uniform in south Kashmir last week.
Hardliner Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Tuesday said that fulfilling election promises will be a test for the new government but added that the 'struggle for freedom' in the state will continue.Those who were elected have made promises to the people, Geelani said & added that while people voted for the mainstream politicians on the promises of better civic amenities and jobs, the separatists continue to represent the real sentiment.
The strike was called to protest the arrest and subsequent booking under Public Safety Act of six of Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's close associates in Srinagar last week.
Questioning the silence of separatists over the killing of a civilian in stone-pelting, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday accused them of putting the lives of innocent people at risk by encouraging such protests."Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who had a given a call for Friday protests and is encouraging stone pelting, and his followers are responsible for the death of the innocent person and they were responsible for the death of the 10-day-old boy in Baramulla," he said.