Syed Ali Shah Geelani has announced his resignation from the Hurriyat conference.
New Delhi / Jammu:
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the face of Kashmiri separatist politics for more than three decades, has left the Hurriyat Conference, the largest separatist amalgam in Kashmir. Aged 90, who has led the separatist movement in the Kashmir valley since the 1990s, he was the lifetime president of the Hurriyat.
He has been under house arrest mainly since 2010, when anger and violence against police targeting demonstrators consumed Kashmir.
In an audio message, Syed Ali Shah Geelani said he was announcing his resignation from the All Party Hurriyat conference due to the “current circumstances” of the coordinating group.
“Given the current state of the Hurriyat conference, I announce my complete dissociation from the forum. In this context, I have already sent a detailed letter to all the voters of the forum,” Geelani said in a published audio message. this morning.
This marks a major development for separatist politics in Jammu and Kashmir after the government terminated its special status under section 370 of the constitution last August, divided it into two union territories, and has imposed massive movement restrictions in addition to imprisoning dozens of leaders.
Geelani also published a two-page letter accusing Hurriyat voters of inaction after the removal of section 370.
“I have sent you messages by various means so that the next course of action can be decided, but all my efforts have been in vain. Now that the sword of responsibility hangs over your heads for financial and other irregularities , you thought of calling the council committee meeting, “he wrote.
The letter accused Hurriyat voters of having hatched “a plot and using lies against him” and of associating with the Hurriyat chapter of occupied Kashmir in Pakistan, which targeted him. “Instead of berating them, you called a meeting in Srinagar and ratified their position. You people became part of the plot and the lies,” the letter said.
“The lack of discipline and other shortcomings have been overlooked and you have not allowed a strong accountability system to be put in place over the years, but today you have crossed all boundaries and you are rebelled against the leaders. “
Sources claim that Geelani was attacked by groups in Pakistan for what they called his failure to respond to the large government movement. Many have questioned the silence of the separatist hardline, which was subject to calls for the closure of the protests and the boycott of the elections.
A three-time member of Parliament for Sopore, Geelani left electoral politics after activism broke out in Kashmir. Recent reports have claimed that he is not well.
