Geelani quits, Sehrai to head Tehreek-e-Hurriyat

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 19

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani on Monday resigned as the chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, the party he founded over a decade ago, following fissures with his parent organisation Jamaat-e-Islami.

Geelani stepped down as the chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat after heading it ever since its creation in 2004. However, he would continue to be the chairman of a powerful faction of the separatist amalgam, All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

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Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, Geelani’s close associate for the past several decades, was named the interim chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat till the organisation’s elections later this year.

 The nomination was made by the organisation’s decision-making body, Majlis-e-Shura.

Tehreek-e-Hurriyat is one of the several constituents of Hurriyat Conference and was founded by Geelani a year after splitting the united Hurriyat Conference and immediately following fissures between Geelani and parent organisation Jamaat-e-Islami.