Jammu: The Shiv Sena Jammu and Kashmir and Dogra Front on Tuesday staged protest in Jammu against the tribute to late separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani by the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in its first session.
On Monday, National Conference legislator from south Kashmir, Bashir Ahmad Veeri, while reading out obituary references in the ongoing assembly assembly session, paid tribute to former legislator Syed Ali Geelani.
“I pay tribute to Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He has been a respected member of the house,” the NC leader said in the assembly.
Geelani was a member of the legislative assembly three times from the Sopore segment, having won in 1972, 1977, and 1987. He passed away at his Srinagar residence in September 2021. After emerging from militancy in 1989, Geelani joined the separatist camp and boycotted the elections.
State Shiv Sena chief Manish Sahni criticized members of Legislative Assembly for the move.
On Tuesday, Manish Sahni, state chief of the Shiv Sena, the alliance partner of the INDIA bloc at a press conference held at Sena's state central office Jammu, said that “reciting the praises of the late pro-Pakistan separatist and fundamentalist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly is a highly condemnable and unnecessary act”.
He said that the “misdeed can once again ignite the spark of separatism and fundamentalism in Kashmir”. Sahni said that Geelani had “many allegations against him, ranging from treason to hawala funding, inciting stone-pelters”.
“He used to dream of merging Kashmir, an integral part of India, with Pakistan. Due to which the masters sitting in Pakistan were pleased and awarded him 'Nishan-e-Pakistan',” he added.
He said Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah “had taken an oath on the unity and integrity of the nation and had given a statement of keeping Article 370 on hold and focus on the development of the state”.
“And suddenly, on the first and second days of the assembly session, Omar changed his color like a chameleon by singing the song of Article 370, and his party MLA paid tributes to Syed Ali Shah Geelani,” Sahni said.
On the other hand, Dogra Front activists led by Dogra Front president Ashok Gupta also protested against paying tributes to the late Syed Ali Geelani. The Dogra Front activists assembled near Rani Park Jammu and raised slogans against the PDP for proposing a bill in the assembly against the abrogation of Article 370.
Gupta said that paying tributes to Syed Ali Shah Geelani was tantamount to “glorifying terrorism in assembly, which is not a good sign”. He said that Syed Ali Shah Geelani was “anti-India and was waging war against the country involved in many anti-country cases”.
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