Geelani to be discharged from Mumbai hospital on April 2

Srinagar, Mar 30 (UNI) Ailing firebrand Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was likely to be discharged from the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital in Mumbai on April 2, his aide said today.

Breakaway Hurriyat Conference spokesman Ayaz Akbar, in a statement here, said Mr Geelani has shown significant improvement after his kidney surgery at the hospital on March 26.

''The ailing leader is likely to be discharged from the hospital on April 2. But, he has been advised by the doctors to visit the hospital after a week for the check-up,'' he added.

Mr Akbar said Mr Geelani had soup, read newspapers and took a stroll in the hospital this morning.

He was admitted to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital on March 21 after his health condition deteriorated due to kidney malignancy.

Mr Geelani was earlier admitted to the Apollo hospital in Delhi where he had been diagnosed of a malignancy in his only kidney. The hardliner is also suffering from a heart condition.

At the Apollo hospital, Dr Sameer Kaul had suggested in his report that Mr Geelani required urgent surgical attention for treatment of metastasis disease.

A team of medicos, led by Dr Hemant B Tondgaonkar, had on Monday performed the kidney surgery on Mr Geelani at the Mumbai hospital.

The ailing leader had applied for US visa to undergo treatment for kidney malignancy.

However, his visa application was rejected by the US authorities, saying he had ''consistently failed'' to renounce violence as a means of achieving political goals in Jammu and Kashmir.

UNI