Kashmiri rebel leader suspends agitation

Srinagar: Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Thursday called off pro-freedom agitation during the holy month of Ramadan but asked the people to continue "peaceful protests".

Addressing a media conference at his uptown Hyderpora residence here, chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference Geelani said major separatist programmes would only be announced after the month of fasting.

Three released

This was his first media appearance after his release on the eve of Ramadan Monday from a nine-day long detention.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of the moderate Hurriyat faction, and Yaseen Malek, chief of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, were also released on the same day.

Avoiding a direct confrontation with Mirwaiz, whose group Wednesday asked people to hold protests after today's prayers and observe a total shutdown tomorrow, Geelani said the decision was taken without his knowledge.

"Although I have no knowledge about the decisions taken by the [Hurriyat] coordination committee, but in the larger interest of the people's struggle I have decided to support the programme," he said.

"We shall announce our major resistance programmes after the holy month of Ramadan and till then peaceful protests will continue," the hardliner said.

Although I have no knowledge about the decisions taken by the [Hurriyat] coordination committee, but in the larger interest of the people's struggle I have decided to support the programme ."