News Kashmir Exclusive
Syed Ali Shah Geelani , the most popular Separatist leader of Jammu and Kashmir passed away on 1 September ,2021 . He was born in 1929 in the month of September. Geelani was a veteran politician of Jammu and Kashmir in many respects and with his death we can undoubtedly say an era of Jammu and Kashmir politics has come to an end .He was a well known writer and firebrand orator as well. Geelani was also in the mainstream politics of Jammu and Kashmir for several years.Soon after his death , Curfew-like restrictions were imposed in and around Srinagar, especially the roads leading to Geelani’s residence. Geelani had a varied and dynamic profile as he was born on 29 September 1929 in Zurimanz village in north Kashmir’s Sopore town of Baramulla district.
He started his career in 1949 as a government primary school teacher. He was elected as MLA from Sopore constituency of north Kashmir in 1972, 1977 and 1987.Condolences poured in from wide quarters on demise of Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah wrote on his facebook handle: “My condolences go out to the family, friends and admirers of Syed Ali Shah Geelani Sahib. May Allah grant him the Highest Mukaam in Jannat-Ul-Firdous. Thoughts and Prayers with family.”
Reacting to the news, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti extended condolences over Geelani’s demise .Geelani had authored many books with last one being Vullar kināre : āp bītī, 2012. It was his Autobiography. His early work include Rūdād-i qafas, 1993. Author’s memoirs of his imprisonment.He was initially mentored by Maulana Mohammad Sayyid Masoodi, a pro-independence Kashmiri leader who was assassinated, aged 87 years, by insurgents in December 1990.Geelani befriended top political leaders and backchannel players of both India and Pakistan but refused to show any flexibility when the conversations revolved around shunning the United Nations Resolutions passed on Kashmir and accepting “realistic” solutions. His adversaries did not approve his politics stand but admired his resolute stand.
But in the early 1950s, he discovered the writings of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, the Jamaat-i-Islami’s founder, and that set the course for the rest of his life, as narrated in his autobiography Wular Kinaray (From the Wular’s Shore, a reference to his native village by the Wular Lake in the northern Kashmir Valley).Undoubtedly with death of Geelani a prominent chapter of Kashmir politics has come to end .
As mentioned recently in renowned publication the Daily Hindu recently : The history Geelani witnessed may be chequered but his ideology, accession to Pakistan, remained linear, single-point and unwavering, to the chagrin of many dispensations in both India and Pakistan.
