Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani died on Wednesday.  He was 92 years old. Family members said that Geelani died at around 10:30pm. He was suffering from various ailments for many years.

The face of the Kashmiri separatist movement for over three decades, Geelani retired from Hurriyat, the separatist coalition in Kashmir, and active politics last year. Geelani was chairman of the Hurriyat all throughout and had led the separatist movement in the Kashmir Valley since the 1990s. 

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His passport was seized in 1981 and never returned, barring an exception in 2006 to facilitate him to perform Hajj pilgrimage. There were several cases pending against him in the Enforcement Directorate, police and Income Tax Department.

Pro-Geelani slogans and messages announcing his death were broadcast over loudspeakers from mosques in Kashmir valley.

PDP chief and former Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti shared news of Geelani’s death on Twitter. “Saddened by the news of Geelani sahab’s passing away. We may not have agreed on most things but I respect him for his steadfastness & standing by his beliefs. May Allah Ta’aala grant him jannat & condolences to his family & well wishers,” Mufti wrote.  

Geelani was also a member of banned Jamaat-e-Islami. Geelani wasn an MLA from the Sopore constituency of Jammu and Kashmir in 1972, 1977 and 1987. 

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Earlier this year, Syed Ali Shah Geelani resigned as the
chief of the hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference. His chief complaint
was that constituents of the coalition had failed to lead the people of Kashmir
after the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Geelani, a sworn
Islamist, took a swipe at Hurriyat leadership in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir, calling it “just a representative forum” with “no power to take any
decision”.

Security has been strengthened in the Kashmir Valley following
the death of the separatist leader. Geelani is expected to be buried in Sopore.
His family, however, has reportedly expressed the wish to bury him in
Hyderpora.