SRINAGAR, Sept 23: Senior separatist leader and chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a shutdown on September 27 when President Pranab Mukherjee will arrive in the valley on his maiden visit since he was appointed in July.
Mukherjee is scheduled to preside over a convocation ceremony at the University of Kashmir on Thursday.
Geelani said the president’s visit comes at a time when there is still no independent enquiry into the disappearance of “10,000” people at the hands of the army in Kashmir.
“Since Pranab Mukherjee as president is also the constitutional supreme commander of the defence forces, he is answerable to the war crimes which the army has committed here since 1965 and continue to do so,” Geelani said in a statement.
The octogenarian leader said he had no “personal enmity” with Pranab Mukherjee, but “how can we welcome the head of a country which has seized our right to freedom and continue to keep us slave by force”.
Mukherjee is scheduled to hand out degrees and gold medals to outstanding scholars of the university during its 18th annual convocation.
There were speculations that moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who completed his PhD for his thesis on a book on political thought in Islam by famous saint Mir Syed Ali Hamdani in 2010, would receive his PhD degree from the President during the convocation.
The Mirwaiz has completed the registration formalities for attending the ceremony, but a spokesperson of his part said dismissed the possibility of him attending the function, PTI reported.
“Mirwaiz is not going to be back in Kashmir till early next month. There is no question of him attending the convocation,” he said.
Mirwaiz is currently in Geneva to attend the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council.
