NEW DELHI: Pro-Pakistan Kashmiri separatist and former chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of pro-separatist parties in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) who latter founded Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani died late Wednesday night. 

After a prolonged illness, he reportedly developed breathing complications and died on 1 September at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar. According to media reports, the funeral took place late Wednesday night or early this morning quietly amidst tight security which was strengthened following his death in the Kashmir Valley.

Although Geelani's family members have claimed that the police took control of the body and conducted the burial, Inspector General of Police of the Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar said that he had a meeting with Geelani's two sons, Nayeem and Naseem, before it was decided to take the body to the nearby graveyard where it was laid to rest in the family's presence.

In anticipation of antisocial elements using his death to foment trouble and create tension in the valley, the administration restricted the use of telecommunications like mobile phones and the internet. The security forces have also placed barricades at various places and all vehicles were being thoroughly checked.

Mobile phone services, barring postpaid connections of state-run BSNL, and the Internet was shut down as a precautionary measure to prevent rumours and fake news from circulating.

A hardliner Islamist leader, Geelani was the face of the separatist politics in J&K was a strong advocate for Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan throughout his life.

Geelani stepped down as the Hurriyat Conference chairman in June 2020, after the Indian government under the leadership of Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370 in 2019. Over the past few years his influence has been waning and despite his call to protest and boycott election has not found takes in recent times.