Slippery slope

Altaf Ahmed Shah | Umer Asif

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, 86, who heads a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, has an uncompromising stand on Kashmir. The hardline separatist leader enjoys support among militants in Kashmir and Pakistan, and the political leadership in Delhi is mindful of his importance in the scheme of things in Kashmir.

But now, Geelani's uncompromising ways seem to have met their match. The National Investigation Agency on July 24 arrested seven Kashmiri separatists on charges of receiving funds to fuel unrest in the valley. Four of them—Altaf Ahmed Shah, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Peer Saifullah—are Geelani's close aides. Altaf is his son-in-law.

Nayeem Ahmed Khan, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir National Front, Farooq Ahmed Dar, a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, and Aftab Hilali Shah, an aide of the separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, were also arrested. A day later, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Shabir Shah, head of the Democratic Freedom Party.

The NIA had registered a case on May 30 against the separatist leaders for “acting in connivance with proscribed militant organisations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other organisations by receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including ‘hawala’, for funding separatist and militancy activities in Jammu and Kashmir”.

The arrest and the investigation will not only weaken Geelani but also influence the power struggle in the Hurriyat faction led by him. Altaf, his son-in-law, is a senior member of Shura, the decision-making body of his party, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. Geelani's son Nayeem, a doctor, returned from Pakistan in 2010 after staying there for 12 years. It is said that he wants to get into the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and the other leaders in the party are peeved at it. They see it as a move to grab power at a time when Geelani is suffering from poor health and old age.

There had been concerns earlier about Altaf using his relationship with Geelani to cosy up to powerful politicians. At the height of the uprising in the valley last year, Altaf's son Anees-ul-Islam was appointed as a research officer at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Center by the government. There were allegations that he was appointed by “bending the rules”. The government said an interview for the post was held in November and Anees was appointed after clearing it.

Geelani's partymen, however, felt betrayed. The appointment came at a time when Geelani, along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF president Yasin Malik, presided over one of the bloodiest uprisings in Kashmir in which 96 people, mostly youth, were killed, 60 people were blinded and thousands were injured. Similarly, Geelani's son Nayeem returned from Pakistan just after a separatist uprising in which 110 people were killed.

A spokesperson for Geelani said Nayeem returned because the only other option for him was to get Pakistani citizenship, which he did not want to do. He said Nayeem migrated to Pakistan because of harassment by Ikhwanies, the pro-government insurgents. “He was attacked at Barzulla Hospital where he was posted then. Fearing for his life, he left for Pakistan,” he said, adding that Nayeem had no political ambitions and would go back to his job.

But most Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leaders are sceptical. “He applied for the membership of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, but Ashraf Sehrai, party general secretary and second in the pecking order after Geelani, raised objection,” said a leader. “It seemed Nayeem was trying to fast-track his entry into the group, but Sehrai sahab asked him to follow the procedure. He was asked to oversee aid work but that didn't interest him.”

Nayeem said he applied for the membership but after it became controversial, he did not pursue it. “I applied in Baramulla because we are from Sopore, but I was told the officials there had not followed the procedure. I don't know what happened after that,” he said.

Geelani had suspended National Front leader Nayeem Ahmed Khan from the Hurriyat after he was caught on tape admitting to fomenting unrest in Kashmir for money. Khan claimed the tape was doctored. A Hurriyat Conference member said if Khan was guilty so was Geelani's son-in-law Altaf because the NIA was investigating accusations of hawala funds against both of them.

Geelani's supporters were stunned by some of his recent comments favouring the Peoples Democratic Party. In April, he demanded that the byelection in Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency be cancelled. This was exactly what the PDP wanted because its chances of winning the election were slim. Again, during the recent debate on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in Jammu and Kashmir, Geelani issued a statement that Kashmir and GST were “different issues” with “differing backgrounds”. The PDP-BJP coalition government was finding it difficult to implement the new tax regime.

Many observers see the influence of Geelani's relatives in the statements attributed to him. His spokesperson, however, said the leader was mindful of the developments. Either way, with the NIA tightening the noose, he is not left with many options.