Kashmir under lockdown, blackout after top resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani dies

Indian authorities locked down the Kashmir Valley and placed the region under a near-total communications blackout on Thursday after the death of iconic pro-independence leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Geelani, who died on Wednesday at the age of 92, had been a thorn in India’s side since the early 1960s when he began campaigning for the merger with Pakistan of the part of Kashmiri territory administered by India.

The veteran politician and former chief of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference was jailed for nearly 10 years starting in 1962 and was often restricted to his home in Srinagar after that.

“My father expired at 10 p.m. and then restrictions were imposed,” Geelani’s son, Naseem Geelani, told Arab News.

The family and supporters of the Kashmiri resistance icon had planned to bury him at the main Martyrs’ Cemetery in Srinagar, but his body was forcibly taken away by security forces.

“We have many relatives in different parts of Kashmir and I told the security forces to let us wait until morning for the burial, but they applied force and said the burial had to be done as soon as possible,” Geelani’s son said.

“They snatched the body, and when women resisted, they misbehaved and forcefully took the body at 3:13 in the morning.”

The family was also barred from the funeral, as Geelani was buried by police at a local graveyard in Hyderpora area, some 300 meters from his home.

“It is really very sad,” his son said. “Since everything was already shut, a decent burial could have been organized in the presence of family and friends. Last rites are important from religious points of view.”

Security forces came into action immediately and started barricading Srinagar — the main city of Kashmir — after the news of Geelani’s death emerged on Wednesday night and local mosques told people to come to the streets to offer their final respect.