Srinagar, Aug 6: Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani was placed under house arrest on Monday evening to prevent him from attending an Iftar party hosted by him at a hotel here.
 Geelani, who is also chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat had invited journalists, members of civil society, lawyers, intellectual and columnists to attend the Iftar Party.
 However, Geelani could not make it to the venue as he was placed under house arrest. Before the Iftar, the general secretary of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, strongly condemned the move of the authorities to place Geelani under house arrest.
 “It is ironic that Geelani Sahib was not even allowed to attend an Iftaar party. We want to maintain that such suppressive acts cannot deter the amalgam from taking the movement to its logical conclusion,” said Sehrai, Hurriyat (G) spokesman, Ayaz Akbar also condemned the house arrest.
 “Geelani Sahib was not allowed to move out of his house by a large contingent of police. We urge the civil society and international human rights organizations to take strong note of it,” Akbar said.
 On the occasion, senior Advocate Zafar Ahmad Shah moved a resolution against Geelani’s house arrest. “Keeping Geelani Sahib under continuous house arrest is condemnable. But preventing him from attending the Iftar party hosted by him is illegal and undemocratic. We must pass a resolution to condemn such oppressive tactics,” he said. 
 “This is illegal and unconstitutional to detain Geelani Sahib like this. The authorities have no justification to detain him this time. He was just coming to attend the Iftar party,” the civil society members said while supporting the resolution.
 The resolution was unanimously passed by voice vote.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 7 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST