Syed Ali Shah Geelani (29 September 1929 – 1 September 2021)[5] was a pro pakistan[6] separatist leader[7] in Jammu and Kashmir.[8][9] He was previously a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir but later on founded Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. The hardliner Islamist leader[10] served as the chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of separatist parties in Jammu and Kashmir. He was an MLA from the Sopore constituency of Jammu and Kashmir in 1972, 1977 and in 1987.[11][12] He quit the Hurriyat in June 2020.[13] [14][15].
Early life
Syed Ali Geelani was born in a town Sopore Baramulla, North Kashmir, on 29 September 1929. He was educated at Sopore, and finished his studies at the Oriental College, Lahore (in present-day Pakistan).[3]
Political activity
Geelani has been viewed as a key separatist leader in Kashmir.[16] Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has blamed Geelani for the rise in militancy and bloodshed in Kashmir, while Omar's father and former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah has urged Geelani to follow a path which would "save Kashmiri people from further destruction".[17][18] In October 2013 he was re-elected for the fourth time to serve three-year term as the chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G), a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which split up in 2003.[19] He founded the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat party, to which he was separately reelected as chairman for a three-year term in September 2013.[20]
Geelani has called for numerous general strikes or shutdowns, in response to the deaths of unnamed suspected militants, local militants and death of civilians in Kashmir.[21][22]
Syed Ali Shah Geelani received the invitation to participate in the annual meeting of the foreign ministers of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Kashmir Contact Group to be held in New York from 27 September 2015.[23]
After the death of Burhan Muzaffar Wani and the ongoing 2016 Kashmir Unrest that lasted for five consecutive months, to restore normalcy in Kashmir, Geelani sent a letter to United Nations listing six Confidence Building measures (CBMS).[24][25][26]
Sedition charge
On 29 November 2010, Geelani, along with writer Arundhati Roy, activist Varavara Rao and three others,[27] was 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 against public peace...) to be read with Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967". The charges, which carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, were the result of a self-titled seminar they gave in New Delhi, "Azadi-the Only Way" on 21 October, at which Geelani was heckled.[28][29]
Electoral politics
Geelani had appealed to people of Kashmir to boycott the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections completely, not accepting the proposals for self-rule or autonomy that had been offered by the People's Democratic Party and the then ruling National Conference.[30][31] But despite repeated boycott appeals, 2014 assembly election recorded record voters' turnout of more than 65% which was highest in 25 years of history.[32][33][34] After record voting percentage in Kashmir, Geelani, along with other separatists, were criticised by Indian media for misleading people of Kashmir and for not representing true sentiments of Kashmiri people.[35][36][37]
Personal life
Geelani lived in Hyderpora, Srinagar. Geelani has 2 sons; Nayeem and Naseem, and four daughters; Anisha, Farhat Jabeen, Zamshida, and Chamshida.[38] Anisha and Farhat are Geelani’s daughters from his second marriage. Nayeem and his wife are both doctors who used to live and practise medicine in Rawalpindi Pakistan, but they returned to India in 2010.[39] Geelani's younger son, Naseem works at an agricultural university in Srinagar.[40] Geelani's grandson Izhaar is a crew member in a private airline in India. Geelani's daughter Farhat is a madani teacher in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and her husband is an engineer there.[41][42] Geelani's other grandchildren are studying in leading schools of India. His cousin Ghulam Nabi Fai is presently in London.[43] Ruwa Shah, daughter of Kashmiri separatist Altaf Ahmad Shah (SAS Geelani's son-in-law) is a journalist.[44][45][46] She previously worked as a journalist in India with organisations including the dawn,[47] IANS, Quint and The Indian Express, since 2014.[48][49]
Health issues, passport suspension and house arrest
Geelani's passport was seized in 1981 due to accusations of "anti-India" activities. With the exception of his Hajj pilgrimage in 2006, he has not been allowed to leave India.[needs update][50] He was diagnosed with renal cancer, and advised treatment from abroad in the same year. On the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention, the government returned Geelani's passport to his son.[51] In 2007, his condition worsened,[52] although in the early stages of the cancer, it was life-threatening and surgery was advised. Geelani was set to travel to either the UK or the United States.[53] However, his visa request was rejected by the American government citing his violent approach in Kashmir conflict and he went to Mumbai for surgery. His supporters and family alleged that this was a "human rights violation".[54]
On 6 March 2014, Geelani fell ill with a severe chest infection, shortly after returning to his home in Srinagar.[55] He has been under house arrest for most of the time since 2010,[56] and was put under house arrest again on his return.[57] In May 2015, Geelani applied for passport to visit his daughter in Saudi Arabia. The Indian government withheld it citing technical reasons, including the fact that he deliberately failed to fill in the nationality column required in the application.[58][59] On 21 July, the Government granted him a passport on humanitarian grounds, with a validity of nine months, after Geelani acknowledged his nationality as an Indian.[60][61]
Death rumour
On 12 March 2014, rumors of Geelani's death, spread by edits to his Wikipedia entry, "a particular Hindi news channel", and pages on Facebook led the government of Kashmir to suspend internet and phone service, according to some sources.[62][63][64] However, the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that the failures had nothing to do with Geelani's health and were due to a snapped power line as well as an optical fibre cut due to heavy snowfall, which left most of the valley without power. The cuts in Internet service, hours after a statement by Hurriyat that Geelani would be flown to New Delhi for medical treatment, were blamed for spreading the rumours.[65][66][67]
FEMA case
After the 2019 Pulwama attack, India took stronger action against pro-Pakistan separatists including Geelani. The Enforcement Directorate levied a penalty of ₹14.40 lakh and ordered confiscation of nearly ₹6.8 lakh in connection with a Foreign Exchange Management Act case against him for illegal possession of foreign exchange.[68]
Death
Geelani reportedly developed breathing complications and passed away on 1 September 2021 at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar due to his prolonged illness.[69][70][71
