Video shows Syed Ali Shah Geelani's body in Pak flag, case filed

Srinagar, Sep 04: A video of the body of hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani draped in a Pakistani flag has gone viral, prompting Jammu and Kashmir to file a case under the strict anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA.

Sources say that the case is booked under section 353 of the Indian penal code, 13 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) filed at Police Station Budgam against the family members of Geelani.

The body of the separatist leader, who died Wednesday night at his Hyderpora residence after prolonged illness, was draped in a flag of the neighbouring country before it was buried at a graveyard in a nearby mosque.

Pro-Pakistan leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's death has brought to an end a chapter of anti-India and separatist politics in Kashmir, a PTI report said.

Geelani, who was seen as a hawk among the separatist leadership of Kashmir, went on to become an MLA three times from Sopore constituency. He won the assembly elections in 1972, 1977 and 1987.

Geelani, however, became an anti-election spearhead following the eruption of militancy in Kashmir in 1990. He was one of the founder-members of the Hurriyat Conference, a separatist amalgam of 26 parties but fell out with the moderates who advocated dialogue with the Centre for resolution of the Kashmir problem.

He launched his own Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Kashmir in 2003 following a vertical split in the Hurriyat Conference that he is believed to have engineered. He launched his own faction of the Hurriyat after bickering with moderates over the allegations of proxy participation in 2002 Assembly elections by People's Conference led by Sajad Lone.

However, Geelani said goodbye to Hurriyat politics in June 2020 saying the second rung leadership did not rise to the occasion following abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre in 2019. He was suffering from kidney-related ailments since 2002 and had one of his kidneys removed due to problems. Geelani's health deteriorated over the past 18 months.