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'.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah has said his government would not curtail the two-month-long annual Amarnath yatra scheduled to begin in June this year.Hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has sought curtailment of the yatra period for what he called 'the preservation of ecology in the Kashmir Himalayas'.
Separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday rejected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement alleging them of stepping up violence with the help of elements from across the border."Kashmiris are struggling peacefully for their birthright but India uses its military power to suppress the peaceful and justified struggle," chairman of hard-line faction of Hurriyat Syed Ali Shah Geelani said.
Three persons were injured, two of them with rubber bullets in post Friday prayer protests in north Kashmir's Sopore town.
Behal is also a member of the legal cell of the separatist amalgam led by Geelani and a 'close associate' of the Hurriyat hawk.
Ahead of the resumption of Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan tomorrow, visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met Geelani for 90 minutes.
Ahead of his talks with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir will be meeting leaders of various separatist outfits from Kashmir over the next two days.
Markets, banks, semi-government institutions were closed and transport remained off the roads in Srinagar and other major towns in the state in response to the call given by hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference to protest against booking of its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani under Public Safety Act (PSA) and continued detention of other separatist leaders.
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 surprise snub to Pakistan, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani decided to "boycott" the Eid Milan being hosted by Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit in Delhi on July 21, making it the first time that he has turned down such an invite.
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.
Saturday's shutdown followed the Baramulla march call given by Geelani on Friday over the recent rape and murder of two women in south Kashmir's Shopian town. Authorities had imposed strict restrictions on Friday to foil the proposed separatist march.
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.
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.
Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani evening issued a call for Shopian march and a week-long protest programme against the alleged rape and murder of two women last week.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Jamaat-e Islami of Jammu and Kashmir talks about the Kashmir conflict and its possible solution in this 2 part interview with Yoginder Sikand.
Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, under house arrest since Thursday, was detained on Friday when he tried to defy restrictions to lead a march to the United Nations Military Observers group office in Srinagar. "Geelani was detained and lodged in police station Humhama on the airport road when he tried to come out of his house at Hyderpora to lead a march to UNMOGIP," a police spokesman told PTI.
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.
One person was killed in Srinagar on Friday when the vehicle he was traveling in was targeted by a stone-pelting mob, which was protesting against the state government's decision to put senior separatist leaders Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani under house arrest."A stone hit Sheikh on the head. He was rushed to Soura medical institute, where he succumbed to the injury," the officer said.
"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.
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.
A prominent separatist leader, Shabir Shah, was on Tuesday evening released after months of detention after the Jammu and Kashmir government revoked his detention under the stringent Public Safety Act. Shah was arrested in June this year during protests against the rape and murder of two women in south Kashmir's Shopian town.
Curfew was relaxed for three hours in parts of north Kashmir's Sopore town, 55 km from Srinagar, on Friday morning, a police spokesman said.
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."
Hardliner separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is caught in a piquant situation of being expelled from the Jamaat-e-Islami in Jammu and Kashmir, of which he has been a founding member and its leading light.
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.
The state government is just a puppet of New Delhi, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hardline leader of the Hurriyat Conference (G), tells Saubhadra Chatterji.
Threats were often communicated to Pandit homes through notes tied to stones chucked through a window, or a notice pasted on a wall. Those sometimes came from neighbours eyeing that Pandit family's property. Those threats often worked in the atmosphere of terror during that awful season of vacuous exercise of State authority, writes David Devadas, longtime Kashmir watcher and author of two books on the Valley.
In a confidential report, the Jammu and Kashmir police has accused moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Shabir Ahmed Shah of having links with Pakistan-based terror group Lashker-e-Tayiba. In the report to the state Home Department, the police have suggested some pro-active measures to curb the anti-national activities of separatist leaders and also slapped the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against pro-Pakistan leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
A fresh audio tape purportedly carrying his voice appeared in the social media in which the engineering-student-turned militant, Moosa, said that he was not representing Hizbul Mujahideen anymore.
Geelani was heading towards Baramulla to address Friday prayers and a public meeting
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.
Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded immediate arrest of separatist leaders who had waved Pakistani flags during a rally in Srinagar, saying it was not satisfied with the "mere registration" of a police case against them.
Chairman of the hard-line faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday said he was not against the dialogue process on Kashmir issue but it should be aimed at finding a permanent solution.Geelani's statement came in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's appeal for dialogue with separatists and other groups for peace in the state."Kashmir is the core issue between the two countries," he said.
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?
The body of Sehrai, 77, was handed over to his family on Wednesday evening and taken in a police escort to Kupwara in north Kashmir, at least 350 km from Jammu, where he would be buried at his ancestral graveyard in accordance with the COVID-19 guidelines.