Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani along with dozens of his associates were Friday detained by the police in Humhama police station when he tried to break police cordon and proceed towards Anantnag where he was scheduled to offer Friday prayers and to participate in the proposed public meeting.
While terming the government actions as sheer ‘hooliganism and interference’ in the religious affairs, Hurriyat (G) spokesman said, “The dubious statement of the state police chief about the imprisonment of Geelani Sahab has got badly exposed and today’s government action has proved that the police department is just to spread and promote lies and this institution has no credibility.”
In a statement to KNS, Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar said, “The DG police had recently issued many statements that ‘Geelani Sahab is a free man and he can offer prayers anywhere.’ To test the reality of the said statement, Geelani Sahab despite being under the continuous house detention, announced that he will offer his next Friday prayers on 3 July at Islamabad and will address an important public meeting after the prayers.”
“We were of the view that to protect and save the honour of the police chief’s statement, the government will release Geelani Sahab for this day and will lift the police cordon around his residence. Contrary to that to further tighten the house detention of Geelani Sahab, the extraordinary deployment of police force was put in place on Friday and not only the deployment of heavy police force in and around Hyderpora but his house and office was practically sealed and no one was allowed to enter or leave the office premises. Despite all this, the Hurriyat Chairman along with dozens of his associates tried to break the police cordon at sharp 11:00am but police arrested him outside his residence and detained him in the Humhama police station,” he said.
“The Hurriyat leaders and activists who were arrested on the occasion include Chairman Hurriyat Syed Ali Geelani, Raja Mehraj-ud-din, Mohammad Yousuf Mujahid, Hakeem Abdul Rasheed, Mohammad Yousuf Naqash, Ghulam Mohammad Khan Sopori, Bashir Ahmad Andrabi, Mohammad Ashraf Laya, Syed Imtiyaz Hyder, Shakir Ahmad Mir, Syed Zahoor-ul-haq Geelani, Mushtaq Ahmad Shaikh, Umar Adil Dar, Mukhtar Ahmad Laway, Mohammad Ramzan Khan, Sajad Ahmad Sofi, Abdul Rasheed Lone and Javaid Ahmad Gazi.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelThe other Hurriyat leaders who took part in the protest demonstration at Hyderpora against the arrest of Geelani Sahab include Altaf Ahmad Shah, Advocate Mohammad Shafi Reshi, Peer Saifullah personal secretary to Chairman, Abdul Hameed Magray, Mohammad Shafi lone, Nisar Hussain Rather, Bilal Ahmad Siddiqi, Mohammad Sayed, Zamrooda Habib, Yasmeen Raja and Ghulam Mustafa,” he added.
The Hurriyat (G) spokesman said, “Before coming in power, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed used to claim high to face the pro-freedom leadership on political turf and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti used to criticize Omer Abdullah for placing Geelani Sahab under continuous house imprisonment and stopping him from offering Friday prayers but as soon as Mufti Sayeed came to power, his political slogans and ideology got badly exposed and he proved to be worst then his predecessor.”
“Mufti Government began the house arrest process of Geelani Sahab immediately after he returned from New Delhi on 15 April and during last two and half months he had only once succeeding in addressing the public rally at Tral on 1 May Friday when he managed to give slip to the police and reached Tral in the dark of the night. Hurriyat Spokesman expressed his hope that from now-on the police chief or any other government official cannot spread these kinds of lies that “Geelani Sahab is a free man and he can offer prayers anywhere,” he said.
“And if they again talked like this, then it will have no credibility. Hurriyat Conference once again appealed the Amnesty International and other human rights organizations to take serious notice of the unjust house detention process of the Kashmiri pro-freedom leader and use their influence in ending his illegal and undemocratic imprisonment,” he added.