Four, yet another factor (which Geelani himself referred to in his letter of resignation) was the internal friction in his faction of Hurriyat Conference on both sides of LoC. It is typical of Geelani to discredit his detractors with charges that are applicable to himself. Money making has become synonymous with every single separatist in Kashmir as they have amassed wealth through dubious means and showed no concern for the miserable plight of the common people. Despite his ‘Mr Clean’ image, Geelani tops the list of beneficiaries since he enjoyed the full confidence of Islamabad and enjoyed tremendous clout within the local administration – whether out of awe, affection or fear! That is precisely the reason he got lucrative jobs for many of his relations, acquaintances, and even party workers. He also laid claim to Jamaat e Islami properties and refused to give them back.
Since 2016, his party members across the LoC stopped reporting to Geelani on financial matters. This annoyed Geelani essentially because money coming from other hawala channels also stopped. Taking a pot-shot at his colleagues for financial impropriety, Geelani actually planned to kill two birds with single stone. On the one hand he wanted to avoid the wrath of public which was simmering, while on the other hand, true to his nature of politics, he wanted to discredit and stigmatize those who were no more prepared to serve as his stooges. The reality is that all of them are more or less equally corrupt, materially, monetarily and morally!
Five- The controversy surrounding nomination of Ashraf Sehrai as chairman of Hurriyat Conference by Geelani in March last year followed by his son joining the militant ranks needs to be put in the correct perspective as it would further help in understanding the rationale behind Geelani sudden resignation. There are two theories about Geelani-Sehrai relationship post March 2019.
One is that Geelani wanted to install his son Naeem Geelani as chairman of his faction of separatist conglomerate but because the people sitting across LoC including senior Jamaat e Islami leader Ghulam Muhammad Saifi opposed the move, Geelani nominated his old confidante Sehrai instead.
Second theory is that Sehrai is an ambitious separatist who was overshadowed by Geelani all through his life, got the chance to side-line his mentor and by building up contacts and good will with Hurriyat functionaries on the other side of the LoC. Since discontentment against Geelani was already simmering there, the self-exiled leaders in Muzaffarabad who had been victimsed by Geelani too got an opportunity to get even with him by orchestrating his disgraceful exit.
In fact, every attempt made by Geelani to stay at the apex of separatist politics after 2016 backfired and each of his tactical move went against him. In the ultimate analysis it seems that the entire ‘kainaat’ (universe) united to humble a man who had made the mistake of believing that he could manipulate his own destiny! (Concluded)
