The J&K police on Monday claimed that deceased Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s two sons first agreed to bury him in the night but later backtracked due to Pakistan’s pressure.
In a series of tweets, a police spokesman said Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar along with a Superintendent of Police and Additional Superintendent of Police met both the sons of Geelani at their residence at 11 p.m. on September 1.
“They condoled them and requested for burial in the night for the larger interest of the general public due to potential major law and order situations. Both agreed and asked to wait for two hours until relatives reach,” the spokesman said.
The police said the IGP also spoke to a few relatives and ensured them of safe passage. “Three hours later probably under the pressure from Pakistan and miscreants, they behaved differently and started resorting to anti-national activities, including wrapping the dead body in a Pakistani flag, making loud sloganeering in favour of Pakistan and instigating neighbours to come out,” the police said.
The police said after persuasion the relatives brought the dead body to the graveyard and performed last rites with due respect in presence of members of the Intizamia Committee and a local Imam. “The refusal of both his sons to come to graveyard indicated their loyalty to Pakistani agenda rather than their love and respect for their departed father,” the police said.
The statement comes days after a viral video the policemen and the family members arguing in a room where Geelani was kept after his death on September 1. Later, the family alleged the police “snatched” the body and buried in a haste without their presence. They also alleged that the policemen misbehaved with the female inmates of the family. Several political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s Hurriyat, condemned the police action.
A pro-Pakistan ideologue, Geelani, 92, was ex-Hurriyat chairman and was under a house arrest for around 10 years in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, the police have booked the family members and “miscreants”, who draped the body with a Pakistani flag, under sections of the UAPA.
