NEW DELHI: Kashmir and culture are explosive pretexts in the hands of a skilled provocateur. “The Kashmiri youth present there (at the Delhi Press Club meeting) raised provocative anti-India slogans and also termed Afzal Guru and Maqbool Butt as shaheed and had put up posters glorifying them,” Delhi University Professor Ali Javed, who had allegedly booked the Press Club hall for the event to commemorate the execution of Afzal Guru, told police. Javed claimed that the hall was booked on request of his friend SAR Geelani, who had been arrested for his alleged role in the 2001 Parliament attack but was later acquitted by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence. The apex court, however, had remained suspicious about his role in the terror strike.
The Supreme Court had remained suspicious about SAR Geelani’s role in the 2001 Parliament attack, while aquitting him due to lack of evidence.
“We can only say that his conduct, which is not only evident from this fact, but also the untruthful pleas raised by him about his contacts with Shaukat and Afzal, give rise to serious suspicion at least about his knowledge of the incident and his tacit approval of it,” SC had said in the 2005 judgment observing that Geelani had laughed when the attack was mentioned in a conversation.
The exclusive excerpts of Javed’s statement with The Sunday Standard brings the focus back on Geelani, who, Delhi Police officials said, is responsible for raking up the Afzal Guru issue and projecting the terror convict as martyr. Professor Javed says that Geelani betrayed him and other professors by eulogising Afzal Guru.
“I feel that was a breach of trust. I was cheated and betrayed by Mr. Geelani by keeping me in dark about his plans,” said Javed, adding, “The youth invited by Geelani kept on raising objectionable and provocative anti-India slogans to which four of us objected. I told Mr. Geelani to stop this but the commotion continued. Finally, they were made to stop and Press Club staff chased them away.”
Javed said: “SAR Geelani is known to me for a few years. He requested me to book the Press Club hall on February 10, 2016, saying that he wanted to organise a discussion on Kashmir. I trusted him and booked the hall for this purpose. He invited me, Prof Nirmalangshu Mukherjee, Prof Tripta Wahi and Prof Vijay Singh to speak in the discussion.”
Though Geelani has been booked for sedition in the Afzal Guru controversy, the incident has brought him under the scanner of security agencies that believe Geelani might be working with Kashmiri separatists and his links are being investigated.