Pakistan demands UN bodies push India to allow Kashmiri leader Geelani’s reburial in Srinagar

Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard in the Eidgah area of Srinagar on September 6, 2021, as thousands of Indian security forces maintained a lockdown across Kashmir after the death of Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. (AFP/File)

• Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s family wanted to bury him at the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar’s old city
• After his death last week, Indian security forces took away Geelani’s body and buried him in a local graveyard amid tight security

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram said on Tuesday the world body and its subordinate rights organizations must ask India to allow the reburial of a veteran Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani according to his family’s wishes.
Geelani, who opposed Indian rule in Kashmir, died at the age of 92 after protracted illness in Srinagar last week.
His body was taken away from his residence by the Indian security forces late at night who buried him in a local graveyard near his residence amid tight security and only allowed his close relatives to attend his funeral.
Geelani’s family and many of his supporters wanted to bury him at the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar’s old city.
Ambassador Akram told the UN “India’s occupation forces had entered Ali Geelani’s home and forcibly snatched his dead body, denied the last rites of a Muslim funeral and buried him in a non-descript place rather than the Cemetery of Martyrs.”
He said that Geelani’s family members were charged for draping his body in a Pakistani flag “as he had wished.”
Earlier, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan also criticized India for filing a case against the family of the late Kashmiri leader for raising anti-national slogans and wrapping his body in Pakistan’s flag.
Last week, the foreign office of Pakistan summoned India’s Charge d’ Affaires to protest New Delhi’s handling of Geelani’s body and funeral.