Pakistan condemns Indian actions as Syed Ali Geelani denied 'proper' funeral
Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, who passed away on Wednesday, was buried in a tightly controlled pre-dawn ceremony on Thursday morning as Indian authorities imposed a lockdown across Indian-occupied Kashmir - actions condemned by Pakistan.
Thousands of police personnel were deployed soon after to try and prevent unrest in the region.
Geelani was buried at a cemetery near his home in the main city of Srinagar, a police source told AFP. Only a small number of his relatives were present, including two of his sons, the source added. Geelani, the most outspoken critic of India who spent several years in jail or under house arrest, had wanted to be buried at the Martyrs Cemetery in Srinagar. But authorities rejected that request, the police source said. "We basically took control of the arrangements," the official said.
Residents said authorities acted out of fear of mass mourning turning into unrest. "Troops are everywhere, there are barbed wire blockades on every main road," said one. After the death became known, announcements were made from loudspeakers of the main mosque near Geelani's residence asking people to march towards the house.
But police said no one in the valley would be allowed to leave their homes. The Foreign Office (FO) paid tribute to Geelani, calling him a "true voice and hero of the Kashmiris' struggle for selfdetermination". In a statement issued early on Thursday, FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said that the government and the people of Pakistan deeply mourned "the passing away of the iconic leader of the Kashmiri resistance".The nation pays rich tribute to his life-long struggle for justice and freedom, he said.
"[Geelani] inspired three generations of Kashmiris in resisting illegal Indian occupation and unabated tyranny. He was a true voice and hero of the Kashmiris' struggle for self-determination, who never lost his ideological moorings for a single moment," the FO spokesperson said.
"May he continue to be an inspiration for those carrying his mission forward to bring an end to the illegal Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir," he added.
Prime Minister Imran Khan was among the first to pay tribute to Geelani, tweeting that he was "deeply saddened" at the death of the "Kashmiri freedom fighter" who had been under house arrest for most of the past 11 years.
Geelani had been ill for several months with heart and kidney problems. The premier said that Geelani had "struggled all his life for his people and their right to self-determination". "He suffered incarceration and torture by the occupying Indian state but remained resolute," he said.
He declared a day of national mourning in Pakistan. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed grief on the demise of the late Kashmiri leader, saying that Geelani would always be remembered.
Addressing a session organised by think tank Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, Qureshi said, "Every Pakistani, every Kashmiri, every freedom fighter, all those elements who have stood up for basic fundamental human rights will recognise what he (Geelani) stood for." He added that he was saddened by how the Indian forces had encircled Geelani's house after his death and treated his family.
"They forced the family to bury him without a proper funeral," he lamented. "Everybody knows that there would have been a huge, huge namaz-i-janaza (funeral) for him, and the Indian forces were too scared to even allow that."
Qureshi said the way Indian forces had trampled on the fundamental right of organising a proper funeral for Geelani saddened him.