Americans need not leave J&K, says Geelani

A day after Kashmir’s top clergyman asked all Americans to leave the state or face public wrath, hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani responded to the statement saying “guests in Kashmir need not leave and they’re always welcome.”

“We’ve differences with the person (Sam Bacile alias Nakoula Basseley) who produced anti-Islam film. But that doesn’t mean all Americans are to be blamed for it. One person’s bad deeds can’t be blamed on others,” Geelani told reporters at his uptown Hyderpora residence here.

The self-appointed chief justice of the ‘shariat’ (Islamic) court in Kashmir, Mufti Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad had on Friday asked all the US citizens to leave Kashmir or face public anger in the wake of protests over the controversial anti-Islam film.

Meanwhile, Geelani condemned the police for arresting Hurriyat worker Abdullah Nasir on the charge of killing a sarpanch in north Kashmir’s Pattan area earlier this week.
“When the police fail to nab the real killers they arrest pro-freedom people and implicate them in false cases. The police have framed our worker (Nasir) on false charges. Let an open trial court decide his fate,” he said.

The octogenarian separatist leader while disapproving the killing of elected representatives on the basis of political ideology said, “Our standing policy and doctrine has always been against such killings. No one should be killed for his political ideology. You can’t kill an innocent person for his political views.”