Geelani stopped from leaving Delhi

The hardliner is in New Delhi for treatment and was scheduled to return to the Valley on February 21.

Leaders of the faction’s constituent groups went into a huddle at its headquarters in Hyderpora and called for a statewide strike on Tuesday. “We will decide our future course of action after that,” Akber said.

Sources in the Delhi Police said its special cell has asked Geelani to join the investigations into a hawala case. Geelani’s name figured prominently following the arrest of four persons in a joint operation by the J&K police and the special cell of the Delhi Police.

“Geelani has been asked to take part in the investigations before he takes off for Kashmir,” the sources said.

Incidentally,Geelani had on Saturday received a formal invitation for talks from the Centre-appointed three member group of interlocutors comprising Dileep Padgaonkar,Radha Kumar and M M Ansari.

In the invitation letter,the interlocutors urged Geelani to “choose date,time and venue for talks”. The letter requested the hawk to send a public document outlining his political agenda if he is not interested in dialogue.

Geelani had spearheaded last year’s unrest in the Valley. However,this year,despite predictions to the contrary,the hawk played down the possibility of a repeat of the protests.

“The government is invoking the bogey of the fresh summer unrest to suppress Kashmiris,” Geelani said in a statement on Friday.

He alleged the government had launched a sustained crackdown against his workers ostensibly to pre-empt the protests this year.