Syed Ali Geelani embraced martyrdom in the custody of Indian police on this day last year at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar where he was kept under continued house arrest for over a decade.
Geelani was born on September 29, 1929, in Bandipora in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). After receiving his primary education in Sopore, he enrolled in Oriental College Lahore for higher education. Having completed his education in Lahore, he joined the Jamaat-e-Islami IIOJK in 1949.
In 1961, Geelani left the government job and became the all-time leader of Jamaat-e-Islami. On August 28, 1961, he was first time arrested and put behind the bars.
Geelani was elected three times as a Member of Assembly in IIOJK in 1972, 1977 and 1987 on the ticket of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1990 when Kashmiri youth picked up arms to fight against Indian illegal rule in IIOJK, Geelani backed the armed struggle and termed it as per the United Nations resolutions to get freedom from India by armed struggle. In 1990, Geelani was arrested and released after three years.
In 1994, Geelani founded the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) along with other Kashmiri leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat and Abdul Ghani Lone. From 1990 to 2010, he was arrested and released several times. In 2010, he was placed under house arrest at Hyderpora, Srinagar to keep him away from the public. Geelani spent 11 years in house arrest and sacrificed his life during the confinement for the greater cause of the people of IIOJK.
Besides a popular leader, Geelani was also considered a fiery orator and accomplished historian and scholar in IIOJK.
Geelani was the symbol of resistance in IIOJK and youth were blindly following him on his principled stand on the Kashmir dispute. Geelani was the founder of the slogan “Ham Pakistani hain aur Pakistan hamara hay”.
