By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: In-absentia funeral prayers of the leader of the Kashmiri freedom movement, Syed Ali Geelani were offered at the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad on Friday. The funeral prayers were offered by President Arif Alvi, federal ministers, parliamentarians, other government officials and hundreds of people.
National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, and Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain were also present.
A symbol of the Kashmiri freedom movement, and former chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Confe¬rence (APHC), Syed Ali Shah Geelani passed away on Wednesday night in the Indian-occupied Kashmir city of Srinagar. According to Kashmiri Media Service, Geelani died after a prolonged illness at the age of 92.
Geelani was laid to rest on early Thursday morning in Srinagar amidst heavy deployment of the Indian occupation force.
It is reported that Geelani had wished for his body to be buried at Mazar-e-Shuhada, however, Indian occupation forces snatched Geelani’s body from the family and forcibly buried it in a cemetery in Haiderpura, Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Friday summoned the Indian charge d’affaires to the Foreign Office to condemn India’s “shameless snatching” of veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s body from his family and disallowing his burial to be held in accordance with his will.
“The Indian charge d’affaires was summoned to the Foreign Office today and conveyed Pakistan’s strong demarche on Indian occupation forces’ callous and inhuman handling of the mortal remains of the iconic Kashmiri leader and freedom fighter Syed Ali Shah Geelani,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
It was also conveyed to the envoy that India’s actions were a “blatant violation” of international humanitarian laws and all tenets of civil and human rights, the FO added.
In its statement yesterday, the FO noted that authorities in Indian-occupied Kashmir had repeatedly “resorted to indiscriminate use of force against Kashmiris protesting the forces’ inhuman conduct”. In view of India’s actions in the past and to keep things from spiralling out of control in the occupied valley, there was a possibility of India “stage-managing some mischief” in Kashmir to divert attention and attempt to deflect the blame of its own indefensible actions on Pakistan or the Hurriyat leadership, the FO cautioned.
Pakistan stressed upon the envoy that India “must refrain from any missteps that might further jeopardise regional peace”.
He was also reminded of Pakistan’s stance that India should lift the “illegal military siege” in occupied Kashmir, stop measures aimed at changing the territory’s demography, withdraw its occupation troops and cease all its human rights violations, the FO added.
Pakistan’s position that lasting and durable peace in the region was dependent on the peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people was also conveyed to the Indian envoy, according to the FO statement.
On Thursday, Pakistan condemned in strong words the “barbaric act” of snatching the mortal remains of Syed Ali Shah Geelani from his family by the Indian authorities.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar in a statement had said, as the family was preparing for the last rites of Syed Geelani, that a heavy contingent of the occupation forces raided his residence in Srinagar, harassed family members and snatched Syed Geelani’s body.
“When the family members told the raiding party that Syed 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,” he had said.
The FO spokesperson had said the government of India is so afraid of 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,” the statement had added.
Geelani, who passed away on Wednesday, was buried in a tightly controlled pre-dawn ceremony on Thursday morning as Indian authorities imposed a lockdown across Indian-occupied Kashmir.
