No funeral procession for Pakistan-backed terrorist Syed Ali Shah Geelani: How things have changed since Burhan Wani’s encounter

Syed Ali Shah Geelani – a lifelong Islamic jihad sympathiser and facilitator died an inglorious death on Wednesday evening at his residence in Hyderpora, Srinagar. A pro-Pakistan apologist and a man who dreamt for the “freedom of Kashmir” from the Indian state, Geelani had a three-decade-long active career in fomenting trouble across the Kashmir valley and radicalising the youth to pick up arms against the Indian state. Geelani was a Pakistani stooge, who peddled the ISI’s narrative on Kashmir and drove the valley’s youth to the path of violence. With Geelani’s death, a new dawn has arrived for Kashmir valley.

Geelani was a stalwart among Kashmir’s Islamists and secessionists in his own right. So, his funeral was expected to clock hundreds of thousands of people from across the valley. Islamists were expected to throng Srinagar and create a massive law and order situation for the administration. The administration, however, has learnt to deal with secessionist retards with elegance. So, the PM Modi-Amit Shah controlled administration of Jammu and Kashmir ensured that Geelani’s sympathisers are given an early morning surprise.

Read more: Modi government set to ban Hurriyat under UAPA charges

A Fresh Dawn

Geelani was buried at a graveyard near his residence in Srinagar’s Hyderpora around 4.30 am on Thursday amid tight security. Even journalists were prevented from covering the funeral and stopped from going to Hyderpora while restrictions were imposed across Kashmir and the internet and mobile phone services were snapped. According to the Hindustan Times, security forces have been deployed across Kashmir and all the roads leading towards Hyderpora are sealed. The police allowed only a limited number of his relatives to attend the funeral.

Geelani vs Wani – A Tale of Two Funerals

Needless to say, Syed Ali Shah Geelani did not get the grand funeral he would have hoped for, due to the pre-emptive measures taken by the J&K administration to prevent a breakdown of law and order. As a matter of fact, the last grand funeral in Kashmir, of a terrorist, was that of Burhan Wani in 2016. Lakhs descended in Kashmir’s Tral for Wani’s funeral, and what was witnessed subsequently was a naked show of radicalism, extremism and separatism. Stone pelting became an “in trend” for Kashmir after the funeral of Burhan Wani. Kashmir’s Islamists began getting fascinated with the idea of giving rise to their own version of intifada against the Indian state.

The government of Kashmir was simply not prepared to handle a breakdown of law and order of that magnitude, back then. Now, however, it is well prepared and heavily equipped to deal with all contingencies. It has learnt from its mistakes. It has grown smart. So, in the case of Geelani, the administration did not allow Kashmiris even the chance to assemble to create ruckus in the valley.

In June 2020, Geelani wrote a two-page resignation letter stepping down as the Hurriyat Conference’s lifetime chairman. This followed months of reprimanding from Pakistan over his inability to stir protest movements in the Kashmir Valley after the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370 in 2019. The reality is that Geelani died a failure. The Modi government has crushed separatists like him, and they simply have no influence any longer. Sure, they might have sympathy, but their wings have been clipped and their hands have been tied.

Kashmir will never be a boiling pot of secessionism like it was in 2016, or speaking more leniently, until the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Secessionists have been shown their place, and the Hurriyat Conference has been reduced to a non-entity in Kashmir.