Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani on Monday stepped down as the chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH).
He was replaced by his close aide Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai as the interim chairman until the elections are held to chose the next party chief.
Since its inception in 2004, Geelani, who also heads hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference, was at the helm of TeH.
"The Tehreek-e-Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Geelani today held a meeting at its office in Srinagar and elected senior member Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai as the party chairman," a party spokesperson said.
The replacement of octogenarian Geelani is seen as a major development and it would also rest all speculations that who would head the hardline separatists in Kashmir after his death.
Sehrai and Geelani, both strong votaries of implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, have been close associates for almost six decades, first in the Jamiat-e-Islami J&K and later in the TeH.
Sehrai, in his late 70s, is a senior leader of Hurriyat's hardline faction and, like Geelani, has been in and out of jail for years together.
While Hurriyat insiders stated that Geelani resigned citing health concerns, sources said that the ailing separatist was under tremendous pressure after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) tightened the noose around his family members.
In May 2016, Geelani, who was also a three times MLA from Sopore constituency between 1972 and 1987, had said that the party and its allies will decide his successor only after his death. "There is a set-up. Tehreek-e-Hurriyat is our party and Hurriyat has 23 allies. Tehreek-e-Hurriyat knows what to do after my death. Hurriyat also knows what to do after my death…they can choose my successor through deliberations," he had said in response to queries from reporters.
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