India / Geelani quits Hurriyat Conference; alleges mismanagement, rebellion by members

Sri Nagar: Almost seventeen years after he floated the amalgam, senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani resigned from the All Party Hurriyat Conference, reported news agency ANI on Monday, 29 June.

According to news agency PTI, a spokesperson for the 90-year-old leader said that "Geelani has announced complete dissociation from Hurriyat Conference forum,” through a four-line letter and an audio recording.

In her letter to different groups that make up the amalgam, Geelani listed out the reasons for his resignation from the outfit, of which he had been nominated as a lifetime member.

“The activities of these representatives were limited now to seeking access to assemblies and ministries for joining the government there (PoK). Some members were expelled while others started holding their own meetings. These activities were endorsed by you (constituents) by holding a meeting here to endorse their decisions.”

According to PTI, Geelani said that he had written multiple letters to members of the amalgam after the revocation of Article 370 In Kashmir, but to “no avail.”

"I sent messages to you through various means so that the next course of action could be decided but all my efforts (to get in touch) went in vain. Now that the sword of accountability is hanging over your heads for the financial and other irregularities, you thought of calling the advisory committee meeting," PTI quoted Geelani as saying.

Known as a separatist hardliner, Geelani has been at the forefront of the separatist movement in Kashmir Valley since the eruption of militancy in 1990.

In February this year, speculations about the health condition of Geelani had forced authorities to shut down the mobile internet for a day while security forces were deployed outside his residence in Hyderpora, reported PTI.

He has been largely under house arrest since the summer agitation of 2010.

Geelani is a three-time MLA, having won from Sopore constituency in 1972, 1977 and 1987. He, however, renounced electoral politics following the eruption of militancy Kashmir.