On the political firmament of Jammu and Kashmir, there is one personality, who can be loved or hated but not ignored. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the ailing old leader who turns 81 on September 29, is, for some, the uncompromising leader of the anti-India resistance movement who has the capacity to sail the boat through. For some, he is an egoistic, self-centered politician, who has the knack of imposing himself. He has challenged the powers that be. He enjoys power though authority has been elusive to him. He has never accepted Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India but spend 15 years of his life in the legislative assembly that has accredited the accession. His logic for the contradiction is acceptable to his followers as equally as his opponents use it to denounce him.
The much-talked-about personality is again at the center-stage of Kashmir politics at a time, which he offers us to believe, as the decisive phase of state’s history. He is neither the chief minister of the state nor even an executive, but the orders he issues from his uptown Hyderpora residence, a property belonging to his parent party, Jamaat-e-Islami, which expelled him from its basic membership in April 2010, make a difference in Kashmir. On August 11, he asked the people to march towards Pampore amid a general strike. The Valley remained shut and authorities had to impose curfew to prevent eager people from marching. A calendar of protests and marches, he issued on the lawns of his residence with no one flanking him, became a roadmap for the people. The children hanged their satchels, office-goers locked up formals and transporters threw the ignition keys into drawers. The policemen and their higher-ups tied jackboots again to face the unforeseen. This is the first calendar Geelani issued himself. Earlier, when he was in Cheshma Shahi sub-jail, his underground sidekicks – former militant commander Masarat Aalam and former legislator Ghulam Nabi Sumbji – were issuing it since last week of June. Practically, it is decided at Hyderpora, whether the Civil Secretariat functions or not. The twin flags of the state and the union do flutter atop the secretariat building, but the attendance of employees is influenced from the decisions made in the Srinagar suburbs house that is at loggerheads with the state. This is not seen for the past couple of days, but two months at a stretch. The real tussle between the power and the authority!
Will the stir continue and sustain. “Azaadi (freedom) is a great reward. It requires sacrifices to achieve. We have to be prepared for the long-battle and we shall be successful,” he said when asked about the impact of continued shutdowns and closure of educational institutions. The confidence has come from the inputs he receives from ground zero. When he called for formation of relief committees to help the needy and poor, many localities paid heed and helped their neighbours. He asked people to say their afternoon prayers on roads, and most of Kashmir abandoned mosques to offer prayers collectively in the open on August 9 afternoon.
But this came after a big litmus test of his authority and control over the youngsters. An acknowledgement he received from a young stone-thrower in Nowhatta to Palaniappan Chidambaram, the powerful home minister of India. On June 11, when Tufail Mattoo was killed by police in old Srinagar by a teargas canister, the provocation for the police action was a protest demonstration, of which Mattoo was not a part, called by Geelani to peacefully express resentment against a fake encounter at Line of Control that claimed three youth from Nadihal Rafiabad. This triggered a cycle of violence in the Valley. Another protestor who dared to speak against Mattoo’s murder was beaten to pulp by the paramilitary CRPF sending him into coma. He died a week later. On his funeral, the paramilitary again opened fire on the mourners, killing yet another youth. The reaction to these killings came in the form of widespread, unorganized demonstrations, which climaxed on raining stones and brickbats on police and paramilitaries.
The phenomenon shifted to Sopore, Baramulla, Islamabad, Pattan, Pampore and Khrew towns. During two months, the cycle claimed 50 youngsters, including 9-year and 14-year boys and 17 and 22-year-old girls. Most of slain youth were 17 year olds and just three victims of the killing spree were above 35. The forces shot to kill, was evident from the fact that majority of their casualties, fatal or otherwise, had bullets on upper parts of bodies. Some died with bullets piercing through skull and others silenced when the copper hit them in the neck.
With each death, the showdown became more intense. The frenzied and desperate youth threw stones with more venom to vent their anger. The frustrated cops turned more trigger-happy. If a stone hit the shield of a cop, he burst a teargas shell. If it hit his hood, he would fire in air. When the rock hit him hard, he or his companion opened fire directly. More youngsters fell to the bullets, more anger seethed. In other places, the rulers play a crucial role in breaking the cycle of violence, through peacekeeping or conciliation. But, whenever state chief minister spoke, it added fuel to the anger. He described one death as “suicidal”, another an act in self-defence by the cops and each time came out with admonition to the stone-throwers and warnings to deal with them sternly. But, in Kashmir, who listens to him!
In such a situation Geelani, who had been arrested under the Public Safety Act, was seen as a ray of hope. Even government acknowledges that people listen to him. The disconnect between the government and the agitated youngsters, was perceived to be because of the lack of a political initiative. And, the political initiative was impossible when the influential leadership was behind the bars. Geelani admitted after his release that cief minister’s right hand man Davinder Singh Rana and three emissaries from Indian government met with him during his detention at the Cheshma Shahi sub-jail. At first, Geelani was offered a parole in lieu of his political silence, but he declined. Finally, he was released unconditionally.
Geelani was released at a time when all eyes were focused on him. The government had perhaps realized that this old man’s heart and brain identifies with the tempestuous youngsters. The carrot-and-stick methods had failed to put brakes on youngsters. Each killing, arrest or nocturnal raid on the youth boomeranged in the ‘rebellious’ Valley. At such a juncture, it was a Herculean task to go against the tide. But, Geelani took the stand and spoke against stone-throwing. He took a calculated risk, which he calls as jurrat-e-rindana. Geelani’s main argument was that the stone-throwing attracts police and paramilitary’s wrath that culminates into death of “our own precious youngsters”. “Tell me how many policemen have been killed in the stone-throwing”, he asks to buttress his point.
“Geelani took a huge decision to rein in agitated youngsters. If he was ignored, his leadership would have gone for a six. But for the moment, his word has been paid heed to,” said a senior journalist. Significantly, when Geelani asked the youngsters to abandon pelting of stones and carry out peaceful protests, a 17-year-old Muhmmad Iqbal Khan succumbed to injuries after battling for life for many days. Geelani went to attend Khan’s funeral prayers at 
Chanapora. An eyewitness Abdur Rashid said that around 10,000 people participated in the funeral, which was followed by half-an-hour speech by Geelani. “There were some veiled youngsters armed with stones, ready to charge the paramilitaries believed to be responsible for Khan’s killing, to take revenge. But when Geelani appealed for peaceful protests, they unveiled their faces, dropped stones and dispersed peacefully,” Rashid said. Even at Pulwama, paramilitary CRPF intercepted hundreds of mourners returning from the fourth day ceremony of a slain youth. The mourners wanted to enter the curfew-bound Pulwama town but the forces refused. They insisted and forces resorted to teargas shelling and firing. Following Geelani’s directive, they did not pelt stones but sat down on the road, peacefully. The CRPF then allegedly opened direct fire and killed one of the protestors.
Geelani’s advice worked to break the cycle of violence. This gave a much-needed reprieve to the government and the sections of society who bled on the incessant killing of younger lot. But, this created aspersions on Geelani’s role also. The conspiracy theories, which are hallmark of any conflict situation, sprouted and fructified. “Has Geelani helped India at a crucial juncture?” was one of the Facebook debates. The questions begun to be asked in whispers. Why was Geelani released? Why Davinder Rana met him at Cheshma Shahi?
Why was he released while other separatist leaders like Shabir Shah, Nayeem Khan and Yasin Malik continue to remain behind the bars and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house-arrest? Has the Government of India been able to mellow down his stance? Didn’t his move (to stop stone-pelting) stabilize Omar Abdullah’s shaky chair?
Geelani spent next many days to clear doubts about him. Almost every day, he convened a press conference or gave interviews to local and non-local media outlets to explain his “redoubtable” stance on the resolution of Kashmir. “If entire India is gifted to me, I will not compromise on my basic stand”, he told a press conference. His supporters rented the air with slogans at other places. “Na jhukne wala Geelani, Na bikne wala Geelani” (Geelani will neither kneel down nor sell-out). He defended his decision to ask stone-throwers to give up aggression. “This is nothing new that I have appealed for. Our movement has all along been peaceful. I have just reiterated that stance. The youngsters have followed our instructions,” he said.
Some keen observers notice a streak of hegemony in Geelani. They refer to his penchant for page-one photographs. Even some of his books start with his portraits inside the title. And, then he wants to lead and not to be lead by anyone else. This attitude led him to severe problems and controversies. A senior Jamaat-e-Islami functionary told Kashmir Life that one of the most crucial factors for his distancing with the Jamaat was his dictatorial attitude. “Jamaat is a democratic organization with a fully functional system. Geelani sahib would, at times, try to flout rules to press for his own point,” he explained.
This attitude once proved to be embarrassing. On August 18, 2008 during the peak of agitation against economic blockade of Kashmir Valley in the follow-up of Amarnath land row, Geelani’s speech at the Tourist Reception Center proved to be the anticlimax. Geelani was late to reach the podium but there was no one in the sea of people, who left the Ground without listening to his speech. Even leaders of other separatist groups waited endlessly for his arrival. 
And, when he arrived, the reception was memorable and worth-seeing. A senior journalist remarks that the perpetual problem with separatists in Kashmir is that they never prepare a script for their speeches, even at the most formal occasions.
This is what happened at the TRC Ground. Geelani unnecessarily began his speech by lambasting the then Pakistan President Gen. Parvez Musharraf (who was shown exit on that day) and culminated it with emphasizing that he is the sole leader of Kashmir. “There was a debate for leadership in Kashmir for a long time. Let’s end this debate today. I am your leader. Do you accept me as your leader”, he said to evoke a mixed response from the crowd. The resentment started near the podium shortly after he completed his sentences.
Geelani had to apologize for the comments later. He described his proclamation as Sabqat-e-Lisani, which can be loosely translated as slip of tongue. He conceded that leadership was not his sole domain. Geelani’s admirers say that his apology added a positive factor in Kashmir politics; to apologize after committing a mistake. But, damage had been done. The Coordination Committee, which was formed to spearhead the Amarnath agitation, scattered like a pack of cards.
This time Geelani does not claim to be the sole leader but vehemently denies Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s assertion that the anti-government stir is largely leaderless. “Why is the movement leaderless? The people follow our programme, act upon our advices and do what they are asked to do,” he said.
Reaching to the status of controlling an unpredictable Kashmir has come at a huge cost to the frail, ailing, plain-speaking octogenarian. Since August 1962 when he was arrested for the first time for 13 months, he has virtually lived out of a suitcase for his on and off journeys to jails. For his overt support to militancy, the US and the UK denied him right to travel on medical grounds. With a replaced pacemaker to address a decades-long cardiac problem, he lives on single kidney, which too has been operated upon for traces of malignancy.
He claims that he takes undiluted and unflinching stand on issues. He fought with the leadership of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and later with Jamat-e-Islami, the party he represented throughout his life. At one point of time, he was as distant from Islamabad as he was from New Delhi. In a meeting in Delhi, he left General Musharaf red faced. Following 2002 assembly elections, he raised furore against People’s Conference’s indirect participation in elections and asked the leadership to take action against the PC leaders Bilal Lone and Sajjad Lone. The differences grew and culminated into split of the amalgam. Geelani was proven right, in the later years when Sajjad Lone met with Prime Minister and later plunged into parliamentary elections. His sidekick Sofi Mohiuddin, who became minister in Mufti Sayeed’s regime, also rejoined Sajjad in 2009. In 2008 elections, Geelani vehemently pressed for poll-boycott and did not feel discouraged even when 60 percent voted.
In fact, post 2002 assembly elections, Geelani’s controversial politics established him as a staunch and uncompromising leader. When he failed to convince other leaders in the Hurriyat amalgam to expel Lone brothers from Hurrriyat for “participating” in elections, he parted ways to float his own Hurriyat. He called it real Hurriyat and the split as tatheeri ammal or purification process. The subsequent developments, like the rival faction’s engagement with the then NDA Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and later its continuation with Dr. Manmohan Singh, saw Geelani always browbeating about sell-out.
The period between 2003 and 2007, Geelani spent on castigating Hurriyat leaders who engaged into dialogue with Government of India. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who headed his rival group went ahead with the talks, apparently because Gen Musharraf’s Pakistan was behind the process. Geelani, continued
to warn against the process saying it would culminate into compromise on basic realities of the Kashmir dispute. Such was the bitterness that on January 18, 2007 when Mirwaiz embarked on a visit to Pakistan, Geelani sponsored a complete shutdown in the Valley against the visit. However, shortly after this visit, the Government of India had changed its policy on engagement with Pakistan. Consequently, Mirwaiz was not given audience in New Delhi when he returned from Islamabad. Ever since Mirwaiz has not been to Pakistan.
Senior Kashmir watchers say that the bitterness between Mirwaiz and Geelani showed its effects in several other forms. There were attacks and counter attacks. Mirwaiz’s uncle and political advisor Molvi Mushtaq and Geelani’s confidante Peer Hisamuddin are thought to have fallen to this bitterness.
The net result of this rivalry went in Geelani’s favour because Mirwaiz was betrayed. He (Mirwaiz) took risks, braved grenades and assassination attempts to enter into a process of reconciliation. But he was thrown midway. His proposals, which he submitted to Manmohan Singh were not paid heed to. The government of India wanted them to be reduced to participants of Roundtable Conference alongside likes of Abdur Rahman Tukroo and Balwant singh Mankotia.
Rarely, does he care about the consequences of his actions, decisions or statements. His call for boycotting the polls gave National Conference a two-third majority in 1996, and made it the single largest party in the state assembly in 2008. He did not bargain for anything when he went against the tide and called for a halt in violent protests, last week. This happened at a time when many people were thinking the situation will devour the beleaguered government of Omar Abdullah.
A People’s Democratic Party insider said that Geelani’s “inadvertent” bail-out for Omar Abdullah dashed their projections. The PDP expected fall of government under the weight of ongoing turmoil and human rights violations, which was likely to pave way for fresh assembly elections or new permutations and combinations where PDP had a fair chance to stake claim for the formation of government. Geelani brushes aside the allegations of his support –by default – to Omar Abdullah. “We take every move in the interest of ongoing movement and the people of Kashmir. There is no question of helping out someone or another,” he said.
But in Kashmir where almost everybody is willing to talk and fail, Geelani’s stand that he will talk only if his conditions are met, had kept his relevance intact. He is considered to be the extreme reference point on Kashmir. He chose to even ignore the statements that came from Home Minister P Chidambaram that acknowledged his popularity. His prerequisites are explicit – New Delhi should accept Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory, create conditions for talks by de-militarization, and set all political prisoners especially the youngsters rounded up during recent months, free; and abrogate draconian laws before initiating tripartite talks on Kashmir.
People like ‘nationalist’ Sajjad Lone, who has often remained at loggerheads with Geelani, appealed to the separatist leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik to join hands with Geelani’s faction to offer him the lead role. However, there was no serious effort to tailor unity. Geelani doesn’t seem to be interested either. “The other leaders are working in their own capacity. We have our own programme,” he said. Observers say that Geelani’s hardened stance could have provided bargaining plank for the moderates if there was unity in efforts. For example if Geelani stuck to accession with Pakistan, the other leaders could bargain for independence.
Those who have watched Geelani from close quarters maintain that he is uncompromising in his beliefs and ideologies, which keep him at an arm’s length from other leaders of the same flock. He is staunch Islamist. In his latest press conference he devoted a considerable time in spelling out contours of the Islamic state, he stands for. He even delved upon the rights and opportunities of the minorities. He is fanatically in love with Pakistan, perhaps his childhood passion. Before partition Geelani has twice visited Lahore, once ending up being a servant in Muhammad Din Fauq’s daughter’s home and second time abandoning the literary environs of the historic city after receiving father’s letter who feigned illness to get him back. Sixty years since, he nurses the ambition to touch Lahore again.
He has wept near Iqbal’s grave, and wants to return to offer fateha again. These overt aspirations make him unwelcome among the nationalists. His eulogies for Pakistan in TRC rally of August 18, 2008, too, did not go down well with many of his adversaries. Interestingly, in the recent uprising, the resounding pro-Pakistan slogans were rarely heard.
Geelani can claim that he has no doublespeak on his stance on Kashmir and modus operandi. But, he cannot swear on his coterie with the same confidence. He had unflinching faith in Abdul Khaliq Haneef, his longtime political secretary, who turned out to be functioning in total contrast with Geelani’s ideals. When Geelani expelled him, he plunged into poll fray and unsuccessfully contested 2002 elections. It is said that Geelani’s decisions are mostly influenced by his coterie of a few.
Many observers say that Kashmir’s present political scene is crucial and highly decisive. However, there are doubts whether this phase would structure into a process that would lead into resolution of the conflict, in whatever form. Geelani has hugely invested himself at this point in time. Whether the situation paves way for the resolution of Kashmir or not, it would certainly decide on the future of Geelani and his politics…
