Geelani threatens to intensify Kashmir agitation

SRINAGAR - Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani Saturday threatened “to intensify the ongoing agitation in Kashmir” if India fails to halt what he called the human rights violations and delays the release of prisoners.

Geelani, who has been spearheading the over five-month-long unrest in Kashmir that has so far claimed 110 lives and left hundreds of others injured, also issued a fresh protest calendar calling for a shutdown on Nov 24 and 27 and a march to Eidgah grounds Friday to erect a wall “in the memory of the martyrs”.

“In case India doesn’t halt the human rights violations and releases the detenus, we will launch an agitation this time, the consequences of which India cannot imagine,” Geelani, who continues to be under house arrest in his uptown Hyderpora residence, said at a media conference.

He alleged that the state government was using “money power” to dilute his protest programme in the valley and appealed to the local transporters to follow the protest programme.

He also announced that the “Quit Kashmir programme” will continue and appealed to people to support it.

Geelani has been issuing weekly calendars of protests and shutdowns in Kashmir for over five months. The present unrest in Kashmir followed the June 11 killing of 17-year old schoolboy, Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, who was hit on the head by a tear smoke shell fired by police.