SRINAGAR, Jun 30,2020: A veteran separatist politician in Kashmir quit his hardline faction within an umbrella alliance of secessionists on Monday.
The decision of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, 90, could further weaken the separatist cause after India last August scrapped a decades-old constitutional provision giving Jammu and Kashmir state special rights.
Geelani, who has been under house arrest in the region’s largest city Srinagar for several years, accused the faction he led within the umbrella Hurriyat Conference, of inaction over New Delhi’s move in a two-page letter and short audio message.
“Keeping in view the present situation in Hurriyat Conference, I announce my decision to part ways with it,” he said, accusing members of the grouping of conspiring against him and saying it lacked discipline and accountability.
Hurriyat Conference was formed by various separatist groups in Kashmir in 1993 to provide a political platform for seceding from India in the wake of an armed revolt against New Delhi.
