India’s ‘inhuman acts’ after Geelani’s death denounced

ISLAMABAD/HELD SRINAGAR: Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned India’s “inhuman acts” after occupation forces “snatched” the body of Hurriyat icon Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who died the previous night, and buried him in a tightly-controlled pre-dawn ceremony and imposed a lockdown across disputed Kashmir.

The staunch campaigner for Kashmir’s right of self-determination died at the age of 92 following a long illness. Wary of his influence across the held Kashmir Valley, Indian security forces were deployed soon after, mobile internet and phones were cut and residents were told to stay in their homes.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “Pakistan strongly condemns the barbaric act of snatching of the mortal remains of the iconic Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani from his family by the Indian Occupation Forces early this morning.”

The foreign office said as the family was preparing for the last rites of Geelani, a heavy contingent of occupation forces raided his residence in Srinagar, harassed the family members and snatched Geelani’s body.

When the family members told the raiding party that Geelani’s will was to be buried in the Cemetery of Martyrs in Srinagar, they were reportedly told that India would not allow Geelani’s burial at the place of his choosing, the statement added.

“Government of India is so afraid of Syed Geelani and what he stood for that they have now resorted to this inhuman act even after his passing away. This shows the degree of callousness on part of the occupation forces and demonstrates beyond doubt that India would trample all civil and human values in perpetuating its occupation of IIOJK.”

Indian media subsequently reported that Geelani has been buried, the statement said. “A curfew has been imposed in the valley and all internet services snapped. International community must take serious note of this unprecedented and egregious situation in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and hold India to account for its breaches of the international human rights and humanitarian laws.”

Geelani’s family confirmed to international media what the Foreign Office described in its statement. His family said they were not allowed to attend the burial at 4.30 am at a cemetery near his home. The Kashmir Media Service reported that he was buried by occupation forces in Haiderpoora, metres away from his residence.

Geelani, who had spent much of the last five decades in jail or under house arrest, had wanted to be buried at the Martyrs Cemetery in Srinagar along with other Kashmiri freedom activists. But authorities rejected the request, a police source told AFP.

“At about 3.00am, police barged inside our home and took our father’s body,” one of his sons, Naseem Geelani, told AFP. “We insisted that we would perform his funeral after morning prayers and bury him according to his wish at the Martyrs Cemetery.”

Police officers “snatched my father’s body and did not allow anyone from our family to participate in the burial”, the son added. “We heard later that police undertook washing rituals for my father’s body and had him buried.”

Residents said authorities feared that any mass mourning could turn into unrest. “Troops are everywhere, there are barbed wire blockades on every main road,” said one.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was among the first to pay tribute to Geelani, who had been under house arrest for most of the past 11 years and been ill for several months with heart and kidney problems. Khan said that Geelani had “struggled all his life for his people and their right to self-determination. He suffered incarceration and torture by the occupying Indian state but remained resolute.”

He declared a day of national mourning in Pakistan. On Thursday, flags across Pakistan flew at half mast, and President Arif Alvi and lawmakers offered his funeral prayers in absentia.

Geelani had been a thorn in India’s side since the early 1960s when he began campaigning for the Muslim-majority disputed territory’s merger with Azad Kashmir. The veteran politician was jailed for nearly 10 years after 1962 and was often restricted to his home after that.

Since his youth, Geelani had been a member of Jamaat-e-Islami, the territory’s largest political-religious organisation that was banned by India’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019.

He rejected any direct talks with the New Delhi government until it “accepts Kashmir as a disputed territory”.

Mehbooba Mufti, a former Kashmir chief minister, said on Twitter: “We may not have agreed on most things but I respect him for his steadfastness and standing by his beliefs.”—Agencies/News Desk