Syed Ali Shah Geelani's death has started a war of differentiated opinion among the pro-PAK separatists and patriots, bringing in the subject of how the senior Hurriyat leader shaped the J&K relations. Geelani's loyalty towards Pakistan was no big secret, which was the inspiration behind the chaos created in the valley.
Geelani is a symbol of how a society gets lucky or unlucky based on the leadership it gets. Kashmir society wasted more than three decades following a leadership with delusion. He was like the Bhishm (limited correlation on loyalty only), his loyalty to Pakistan was more than to the good of his people and society (only to realize his folly when the end was near). His lack of vision led to thousands of deaths and sustained a cycle of violence – his most macabre strategy was the idea of Kashmiri deaths sustaining the cycle for more deaths –the janazy strategy- to justify continued violence.
"Dreams of azadi"
Geelani invented issues like demographic change, religion under threat, Jagmohan conspiracy etc – anything that can sustain more violence and shedding of Kashmiri blood. He probably has more Kashmiri blood on his hands than any other person in the last century. The Kashmiri nexus played to his Piedpiper dreams, he sold dreams of azadi while he ensured only Pakistani stooges survived – very few leaders have such magical impact on his followers despite their lies.
Anyone with a different ideology or a personality that could be a threat to his leadership would either be thrown out or worse die. He was like the banyan tree that did not allow any other tree to grow – only this banyan was growing on the pillars of the Kashmiri society and harmed it to its basics. If Kashmiris are lucky a new good leadership will soon take charge for a peaceful and happy Kashmir. Happiness is something Kashmiris desperately need.
