EU delegation snubs Geelani; cancels scheduled meeting

Srinagar, May 15 (PTI) In an apparent fall out of
holding funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden, an European Union
delegation snubbed hard line Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed
Ali Shah Geelani by cancelling a scheduled meeting.
"A meeting was initially planned for the May 14 with
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, but given the latest events, the EU
delegation considers it inopportune to hold the meeting," a
statement from the delegation said.
Although the EU delegation, which has met a cross
section of leaders during their four day stay in Kashmir, did
not given any reason for the cancellation of the meeting, it
is widely believed that the funeral prayers held by Geelani
on May 6 for bin Laden had put off the plans of the visitors.
It also called off a meeting with members of the
Kashmir Bar Association.
The funeral prayers for the Al Qaeda chief, who was
killed in a operation by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan on May 2,
evoked a muted response but Geelani and Bar Association were
the only groups which organised and participated in it.
Reacting to the delegations decision, the Geelani
faction of the Hurriyat said "by staying away, they have
dishonoured the will of majority of Kashmiris".
"We have made it clear that we can have difference
with the ways of Osama, but disrespecting his body was a grave
human rights violation. We were expecting that EU which claims
to be a champion of human rights would also raise its voice
against this shameful incident," Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar
said.
An office bearer of the Bar Association said the
meeting with EU delegation was cancelled by the visitors at
the
last moment.
"The members of the visiting delegation are supposed
to be on fact finding mission to Jammu and Kashmir but either
the delegation members are not being allowed to meet the
relevant and concerned sections of the society or they do not
want to know the truth about the ground situation here,"
General Secretary of the Association Ghulam Nabi Shaheen said.
The Bar Association has dispatched memorandum to
European Union High Representative and vice president of its
delegation to India to convey their displeasure over calling
off their meet and to seek their intervention in resolution of
Kashmir issue.
The EU delegation led by the Union’s Ambassador to
India Danielle Smajda has met Governor N N Vohra, Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, PCC
chief Saifuddin Soz, Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik
among others.