Syed Ali Shah Geelani, an Indian Kashmir veteran separatist politician, died at the age of 91 in Srinagar on Wednesday night, leading authorities to deploy troops around the city and shut down the internet as a precaution, police said.
‘Troops are being deployed at sensitive places in Srinagar and other major towns and no vehicular movement is being allowed,’ a police official said.
In Kashmir, Geelani was the most senior separatist leader. His relatives said the old lawmaker had been ill for years and had spent the last 12 years under house arrest after spearheading multiple anti-India protests.
According to a family member, Geelani died late Wednesday night at his residence in Srinagar after fighting chest infection and congestion.
The internet was taken down as a precautionary measure and limits were placed throughout the Kashmir valley, police chief Vijay Kumar said. Another officer added that the roads leading to Geelani’s home in Srinagar have been shut.
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Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, which both claim as their region but can control only parts of it. Tensions were reignited after New Delhi stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy in August 2019 and divided the state into two federally governed areas.
Last year, Geelani resigned from his hardline Hurriyat Conference faction, saying that it had failed to stop New Delhi from tightening its hold on the disputed area. In the aftermath of an armed insurrection against New Delhi, the Hurriyat Conference was created in 1993 by several separatist factions in Kashmir to provide a political platform for seceding from India.
On Twitter, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his sorrow over Geelani’s death and said that the country would observe a day of mourning.
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