Geelani terms killing of PDP leader by militants 'un-Islamic'

Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Geelani on Tuesday condemned the killing of a leader of ruling PDP by militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, saying it is “un-Islamic and inhuman” to kill an unarmed person.

While condemning the killing of advocate Abdul Gani Dar, Pulwama district president of PDP, octogenarian Geelani in a statement said, “Secret killings will lead us to chaos. Killing merely on political affiliations or for one’s political ideology is against the teachings of Islam.”

While Geelani has been condemning killing of unarmed persons in the past, he has rarely raised his voice against killings of mainstream politicians and political workers. “There is no justification for these killings.

Teachings of Islam assign extra ordinary worth for human life and saving a human being is like saving of the whole humanity,” he said.

Dar, 60, was killed by Lashker-e-Toiba militants near Pinglana, Pulwama on Monday. It was the second incident of its kind in a week. On April 17, a former public prosecutor, affiliated with Opposition National Conference was killed by the militants in neighbouring Shopian district.

However, Geelani didn’t condemn the killing then. It is believed in Kashmir that Geelani is sympathetic towards the ruling party and he had an “equation” with the PDP founder and former Chief Minister late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

At the peak of summer unrest in 2016, PDP chief spokesman Mehbooba Beg had appealed to Geelani to treat Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti as his daughter and help her restore peace in the valley.

Publicly Geelani has been stating that mainstream political parties including PDP, NC, Congress and others “don’t differ much as they are no more interested in people’s welfare but run after power and perks.”