House arrest for Geelani again?
Hardline Kashm-iri separatist leader and chairman of his faction of the Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani was released on Saturday, three days after the police arrested him from his residence claiming he posed a serious threat to public peace.
Geelani, who had been lodged at Humhama police station, less than a km from his Hyderpora residence here, was freed after the Id congregational prayers were held here and elsewhere but, as was alleged by an aide, soon placed under house arrest.
The police had described his arrest on Wednesday as a “preventive measure” under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC, saying he had planned certain programmes which could have disturbed public order. “Keeping in view all the expected developments which could have occurred by his moves, he was arrested and has been lodged in police post Humhama,” a police statement had said.
But the arrest was seen here as a move by the government to prevent the separatist leader from offering Id prayers at Hazratbal shrine. Geelani had during the week announced he would be offering Id prayers at Hazratbal and on Tuesday, when under house arrest here amidst renewed tensions set off by the killing of four persons in police firings at Palhalan, he vowed to breach the restriction and defy curfew, if in force in Srinagar, on Id to make it to Hazratbal.
Hazratbal has been a preferred and comparatively secure place of worship for mainstream politicians, including chief minister Omar Abdullah and his father, Union minister Farooq Abdullah, on the two Ids and other important religious occasions. Mr Geelani’s presence could have pushed the father-son duo and other mainstream politicians wishing to offer prayers at the Hazratbal shrine into a tight spot. After Mr Geelani’s arrest, his Hurriyat faction had asked people to hold protests at Hazratbal after Id prayers.
Though the authorities had brought in hundreds of plainclothesmen, many of them from Jammu, to mingle with worshippers, the CM, apparently to avoid possible discomfiture, chose to offer Id prayers at a mosque adjacent to the mausoleum of Sufi saint Syed Yaqoob at Sonawar, less than 200 yards from his official residence here.
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