Modi emissary row: Geelani not lying, says doctor

Facing an onslaught from the mainstream separatist parties over his statement that he had recently met two Kashmiri Pandits who came on Narendra Modi's behalf, Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has gained support from an unlikely quarter.

Facing an onslaught from the mainstream separatist parties over his statement that he had recently met two Kashmiri Pandits who came on Narendra Modi's behalf, Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has gained support from an unlikely quarter. A Kashmiri doctor and national spokesperson of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) Dr Sameer Kaul has said that Geelani is "not lying" about his meeting with Modi's emissaries.

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"He may have several shortcomings but he will never lie," Kaul told HT. Geelani had told him during the course of treatment about the meeting with two Kashmiri Pandits and the conversations," Kaul said.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) youth wing leader Sanjay Saraf, who was named by a national newspaper as one of the two Kashmiri Pandits to have met Geelani, said that he had met Geelani but not as Modi's emissary. Confirming his close relations with the separatist leader, Saraf said he met Geelani as a family friend. The LJP is an NDA ally.

"Mr Geelani is like a father figure, I have known him for over 12 years. I meet him whenever I am in Srinagar," Saraf said.

He dismissed reports that he had carried any message from Modi to Geelani. "The report is baseless. I was not in Delhi that day. I asked Geelani Sahib to reveal the names but he said he had given his commitment not to do so," Saraf said.