Srinagar, Oct 24: Police put the Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani under house arrest on Sunday, immediately after he returned to Kashmir from New Delhi after attending a seminar there.
Reports said as soon as Geelani reached the Srinagar airport, police detained him and put him under arrest at his Hyderpora residence.
Geelani was in Delhi to attend the seminar titled “Azaadi the Only Way” on Oct 21.
The Hurriyat (G) spokesman, Ayaz Akbar said Geelani reached the Srinagar Airport at 1:30 pm where a police party was waiting for him. “He (Geelani sahib) was taken into custody at the Airport to prevent him from speaking anything on the present Kashmir situation,” he said.
 Akbar condemned the police action. “Geelani is going to address a very important press conference on Monday where he will speak on the prevailing situation in Kashmir and also about the visit of the US president, Barrack Obama to India, in November,” he said.
 Geelani would also announce the next protest calendar during the press conference, Akbar said.
Pertinently the New Delhi seminar was organized by Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners at the LTG auditorium, where prominent public figures from India and abroad made their speeches.
Geelani was heckled by a group of Kashmiri Pandits in the seminar. His speech was also criticized by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), forcing the Home Minister P Chidambaram to make a statement saying “the government would take action against Geelani if it was found that he had violated laws against preaching sedition.”
PTI adds
The Union Home Ministry has given a go ahead to Delhi Police for registering a case against separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and few others for purportedly giving "hate speeches" at a seminar held here earlier this week.
Highly-placed sources in the ministry said that an advice from the legal department was received that prima facie a case can be registered against Geelani and others for making statements which are seen as an attempt to “instigate secession.”
The sources said the Delhi Police has been asked to register a case, which they are expected to do soon. Geelani's speech in New Delhi had triggered sharp comments from the BJP.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley had accused the government of "looking the other way" when a number of separatist groups met at a conference to “instigate secession and to say that India cannot be one and must be broken.”
This, he said, was unacceptable as there was no right of free speech available to break up the country.
However, rejecting the BJP leader's charge, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said Delhi police will take action in accordance with law over the speeches made by Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah and others at a seminar here on October 21.
Chidambaram said the authorities had videographed the entire proceedings of the seminar and have submitted them to the legal advisers for opinion whether there has been a violation of the law.
"If it is established prima facie that the laws have been violated, Delhi police will take action in accordance with the law," he said.
At the convention Geelani shared the stage with writer Arundhati Roy and pro-Maoist leader Vara Vara Rao among others. Geelani was heckled by the audience with one of them throwing a shoe.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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