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Syed Ali Shah Geelani steps down as Hurriyat chief, will chair Hurriyat Conference

The decision to appoint Sehrai (73) as interim chairman was taken unanimously in an extraordinary meeting of Majlis-e-Shoora (Central Working Committee) held in Srinagar on Monday

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Ending speculations, Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani stepped down as chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) and appointed long-time associate and pro-Pakistan leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai as his successor.

However, the 89-year-old will continue to chair the hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference since he has been elected as life-time chairman of the separatist conglomerate.

The decision to appoint Sehrai (73) as interim chairman was taken unanimously in an extraordinary meeting of Majlis-e-Shoora (Central Working Committee) held in Srinagar on Monday. Sehrai, who was the secretary general of TeH, will remain as interim chairman till the party elections will be held later this year.

"Merely holding a position without practical contribution is injustice not only with the post, but the conscience as well. So today, I willfully step-down from the chairmanship and advise Shoora to arrange an alternative at the earliest", said Geelani, while addressing the meeting.

The Hurriyat hawk said he has remained steadfast on his stand despite testing times of Jails, Interrogations, domestic hardships, physical and psychological onslaught. "The last eight years of continuous house arrest and restrictions on interacting with my party colleagues have dented the functioning of the organisation", he said.

Geelani said gagging the political environment and jailing the entire manpower of the organisation has left them with no other option but to fight back with more vigor.

Sehrai has been a close aide of Geelani for over 50 years. When Jamat-e-Islam was split in 2003, Sehrai sided with Geelani and both together formed the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in 2004, which became the fountainhead of the hard-line faction of Hurriyat Conference.

In fact, Geelani engineered the split in the conglomerate in 2003, after he accused separatist-turned-minister Sajad Lone for fielding proxy candidates in the 2002 Assembly elections.

Geelani's relationship with his parent party Jamat-e-Islami had hit a low after Hurriyat Conference split in 2002. Jamat, who was the executive committee member of the erstwhile united Hurriyat, had remained neutral for some years. This did not go well with Geelani, who was then the head of the political bureau of Jamat and its representative in the Hurriyat.

Geelani, who wielded considerable support among the hardliners, later formed his own outfit Tahreek-e-Hurriyat and held duel membership in both Jamat and his new party. Feeling ostracised, the Jamat later mend fences with Geelani and joined Hurriyat as one of the constituent member.

However, in 2010, Jamat-e-Islami (JeI) suspended Geelani from the basic membership of the party over the 'adverse' remarks made against his parent outfit in a new controversial biography. Sehrai, who had contested and lost the controversial 1987 election from Kupwara constituency on the ticket of Muslim United Front, has been jailed several times.

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