By IANS,
Srinagar : Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani will Friday lead the ‘Ghaibana Namaz-e-Janaza’ or the ‘funeral prayers in absence’ for slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.
Geelani has appealed to various Imams across the Kashmir Valley and the people to offer funeral prayers of Osama after the Friday prayers.
A heavy contingent of policemen was posted outside the uptown Hyderpora residence of Geelani early Friday, but was later withdrawn.
Earlier reports had said that Geelani had been placed under house arrest to prevent him from leading Osama’s funeral prayers after the Friday congregation.
No senior police officer, however, confirmed Geelani’s house arrest.
Earlier in the day, when asked about Geelani’s decision to lead funeral prayers, a senior police officer said: “Nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace and tranquility here.”
It must be mentioned that Geelani was the only separatist leader in the valley who came out strongly against the US for Osama’s killing.
“He died a martyr who fought the US oppression in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya,” Geelani said immediately after the news report of Osama’s killing in a US operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Despite official apprehension, Kashmir remained peaceful in the wake of Osama’s killing. The Kashmiris mostly preferred not to discuss the issue in public.