After 17 years, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been replaced by Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai as the interim chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH), an important constituent of Geelani-led faction of Hurriyat Conference (G).
Sehrai had contested the controversial 1987 assembly elections as Jamaat-e-Islami
candidate from Kupwara, as the part of a grand alliance of groups and parties—Muslim Muttahida Mahaz—with separatist leanings. Sehrai lost to the National Conference (NC) candidate.
Geelani, 89, however, would continue to be the chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G), as he was elected the lifetime chairman of the separatist coalition when it was founded in 2004.
Sehrai's appointment as the interim chairman signals a change of guard in the separatist group at a time when some of the important TeH members are in the custody of the NIA, on charges of having received secret funding for fomenting unrest in Kashmir.
Sehrai was appointed interim chairman by Majlis-e-Shoora, a decision-making body of the TeH that met on Monday in Srinagar.
A confidant of Geelani, Sehrai will be elected as the next chairman of the TeH when the elections to the post are held later this year.
Geelani told the Shoora today that holding a position without contributing was an injustice, sources said.
Sources said Geelani told the members:'' I wilfully step-down from the chairmanship and advise Shoora to arrange an alternative at the earliest.''
Sources said he told the meeting, ''I have remained steadfast in the face of bitter and stiff persecution.''
“But the last eight years of continuous house arrest and restrictions on interacting with my party colleagues have dented the functioning of the organisation,” he told the Shoora, sources said.
Geelani and Sehrai both have roots in Jamaat-e-Islami for over 50 years. Sehrai sided with Geelani when Jamaat split in 2003. Sehrai aided Geelani in forming TeH and has been his constant supporter ever since.
Geelani floated the TeH after the Hurriyat Conference split in 2003.
Geelani, who represented the Jamaat in the Hurriyat, was seen as a hardliner which didn't go down well with the former. Due to huge support from the separatist constituency in Kashmir, the Jamaat was forced to make peace with Geelani and became a member of the TeH and Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference.
Relations between Geelani and the Jamaat soured again in 2010 after Geelani made some unpleasant remarks in his biography.