Speculation rife as PDP’s Parra meets Geelani aides

An hour- long meeting between two close aides of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party ( PDP) youth wing chief Waheed- ur- Rehman Parra in a Jammu hotel on Tuesday has fuelled speculation in the state’s political circles.

Reports said that Mr Parra was seen eating with the Geelani aides Muhammad Altaf Shah and Muhammad Shaffi Reshi in a hotel restaurant. “The trio spent more than one hour together,” said an eyewitness. Mr Shah is also the octogenarian separatist leader’s son- in- law.

sources in Mr Geelani’s Hurriyat Conference faction said that it might have been a chance meeting between individuals knowing each other and that it has nothing to do with the amalgam or its chairman. “Geelani Sahib is in Delhi and I don’t think he had authorised this meeting,” the sources said.

In January this year, a secret meeting between Prof. Abdul Gani Butt, executive member of Mirwaiz-Umar-led Hurriyat Conference faction and head of Muslim Conference, and PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had created ripples in Kashmir’s political circles.