MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Saturday paid tributes to the former All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani for devoting his life to the supreme cause of Kashmiri nation.

The house which initially met with speaker Chaudhry Anwarul Haq in the chair was later presided over by ruling party’s Rafiq Nayyar as member of the panel of chairmen.

Speaking on the occasion, AJK Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, leader of the opposition Chaudhry Latif Akbar, former prime minister and PML-N leader Raja Farooq Haider, Jammu Kashmir People’s Party chief Sardar Hassan Ibrahim, cabinet members Sardar Tanvir Ilyas, Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Abdul Majid Khan and others said Mr Geelani had resolutely faced the worst ever repression at the hands of Indian army, including the past 12 years of continuous house arrest, but did not budge an inch from his principled stance.

Terming Mr Geelani as an icon of the liberation movement, they said he had prepared a whole lot of young generations to sustain the struggle until its success.

The speakers also expressed confidence that every Kashmiri would more aggressively pursue the mission of Mr Geelani aimed at bringing an early end to the Indian occupation of their motherland. Earlier, the AJK cabinet also held a special sitting to pay homage to Mr Geelani.

However, ironically, nine of the 16 ministers, including Mr Ilyas, did not turn up at the special sitting for one or the other engagement in their respective constituencies.

Meanwhile, former AJK president Sardar Masood Khan described Mr Geelani as a determined leader who had not only spearheaded the peaceful liberation movement with courage and steadfastness for over a half-century but also awakened an enduring spirit of freedom in the hearts of Kashmiri youth.

“Revered by his followers and respected by peers, Syed Ali Shah Geelani was supreme and unquestioned leader beyond a shadow of a doubt. He inspired and led the peaceful freedom movement for decades, galvanised youth and political cadres for generations and emerged as an icon for liberty and self-determination,” Mr Khan said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2021