Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday appealed to people in Kashmir not to indulge in rock-throwing or acts of arson asserting, “It harms our otherwise just cause.”
While addressing a press conference at his Srinagar residence soon after his formal release from six-week detention under Jammu and Kashmir’s tough law Public Safety Act (PSA), the octogenarian leader confirmed a report published in this newspaper earlier that he was contacted by the state government and offered a “political space” to step in if he helped the government in restoring peace in the Valley. “Chief minister Omar Abdullah’s political advisor Davindra Rana met me while I was lodged at the Chachmashahi sub-jail saying a political space could be created for me provided I lend a hand to the government. He appeared to be under the notion that I was interesting in power politics which I’m not. I told him the people of Kashmir was an end to Indian occupation and no force, howsoever strong it may be, can stop them from achieving their goal,” he said.
Mr Geelani, however, asserted that stone-pelting or torching government buildings or vehicles had no place in “our struggle”. He urged the people continue to hold protests peacefully and suggested, “Whenever and wherever the so-called security forces come in their way they should sit down on the road and tell them come kill us if you want to.” By doing so, “We may continue to be seen an subjugated whereas by indulging in stone-pelting and acts of arson to vent their anger some of our youth only bring a bad name to our just struggle,” he said.
Meanwhile, another separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Faroor on Wednesday emailed a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged him to appoint a special envoy on Kashmir.