The hard-line leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, appealed to people not to resort to stone-pelting and attacks on public property as he called for a Eidgah march on Tuesday.
Geelani, however, is on a shaky ground after masked protesters defied the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir-based United Jehad Council chief Syed Salahuddin’s plea to go for a flexible protest calendar.
“The next protest programme will be announced at the Eidgah and a resolution will be passed to press India to resolve the Kashmir issue as per UN resolutions,” Geelani told a local a wire service.
Urging the state not to impose curfew tomorrow, Geelani said at a press conference at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences hospital on Monday: “If people are able to display discipline at Eidgah, half our struggle is won.”
Moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also urged the people to organise peaceful protests.
“We should not resort to any method during protests which many Indian agencies might try to take advantage of.”
Geelani (84), who was hospitalised after he complained of chest pain, refused to leave the hospital three days ago and refused to sign a release parole.
{{/usCountry}}Geelani (84), who was hospitalised after he complained of chest pain, refused to leave the hospital three days ago and refused to sign a release parole.
{{/usCountry}}He demanded that all political prisoners and protesters be released along with him. The demand was rejected by the authorities.
Geelani will be leading special prayers at the Eidgah — a ground in Srinagar’s downtown area when special prayers like Eid is offered every year and has been separatists’ platform since the 1990s — on Tuesday afternoon.
“I will also reveal details of my meeting with New Delhi’s interlocutors in Srinagar’s sub-jail recently,” he added. A three-member team from New Delhi met Geelani two weeks ago in the jail.
Sikh youths rush to donate blood
Sikh youths donated blood on Monday for those injured in clashes with the security forces in the Kashmir Valley even as a shutdown was observed in Kathua town to protest the chopping off hair of a Sikh youth in Pulawama last week.
Earlier, SOS messages on social-networking websites, asking for food and blood evoked huge response in the Valley. Hospital authorities even had to ask the donors to come back later.