PM directs all help for ailing Hurriyat leader

NEW DELHI: In a humane gesture towards ailing hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday  directed that all assistance be given to him and allow him to go abroad for medical treatment.

The Prime Minister issued the directions after reviewing the case of Geelani who is suffering from suspected renal malignancy and is hospitalised here.

The Home Ministry will issue passport to Geelani to enable him to travel to the US for treatment, sources said.

The decisions came a day after Geelani's party Tehreek-e-Hurriyat appealed to the Centre to allow him to travel abroad for treatment.

"Keeping in view the health condition of our leader, there is no need to verify his antecedents as he is a well-know person," Hurriyat leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai told reporters in Srinagar.

Geelani has been hospitalised for the last three days for treatment for suspected malignancy.