Syed Ali Shah Geelani: A Life of Defiance

It was after the Friday prayer at the Jamaat-e-Islami compound in Delhi when I last caught sight of him. He sat quietly in one corner of the masjid, his frail frame still commanding reverence. People were finishing their prayers, but I moved closer so I would not lose him in the crowd. When he rose, I approached. He remembered me. I conveyed the news of Dr. Fathi Osman’s passing—the scholar he had hosted in Srinagar back in 1983. His eyes softened, and as I briefed him about Dr. Osman’s book The Concepts of the Qur’an, he listened intently. Then, in his characteristic hospitality, he invited me to his residence in Delhi.

For the next four hours, he spoke—calm, composed, never raising his voice, yet every word carried weight. When the subject turned to Kashmir, his composure gave way to tears. He wept for the sacrifices of his people, for the generations who had given everything for their right to self-determination. That day, I witnessed not only a political leader, but a man deeply wounded by his people’s suffering.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani was born on 29 September 1929 in Sopore, a town in Baramulla district of North Kashmir. His early life was shaped by the turbulence of a land contested, divided, and restless for dignity. He pursued his higher studies at the Oriental College in Lahore, then part of undivided India, now Pakistan. Lahore was then a hub of Islamic intellectual activity, and his time there broadened both his scholarship and his political vision.

Geelani’s political journey began with his association with Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir, where he emerged as a powerful voice for the Kashmiri Muslim community. He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Sopore in 1972, 1977, and 1987. But politics, for him, was never about power, it was about principle.

In later years, disillusioned with compromises, he founded the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and became its chairman, calling for nothing short of the right to self-determination for Kashmiris. His slogan of “Azadi” (freedom) echoed through villages and cities alike.

Geelani’s vision for a free Kashmir was far more than a political slogan. In conversations and writings, he described a state where minorities would be treated as equals, women would enjoy complete freedom, education would be free, science and development would be prioritized, unemployment would be eradicated, and peace would be upheld as the highest ideal. For him, freedom was not mere separation, but the building of a just and inclusive society.

I first met Geelani in 1979, during my research on youth unemployment in Kashmir. Together, we attended youth camps where he spoke with fire and conviction, drawing the younger generation to the cause of self-determination. In 1983, when Dr. Fathi Osman and I spent over two weeks in the valley, Geelani hosted us generously, sharing his thoughts on Islam, liberation, and the ethical foundations of a just society. His worldview was deeply Islamic, but it was never narrow—his concern extended to all people who lived in Kashmir.

Though confined to India for much of his life, Geelani’s voice traveled beyond borders. In 2015, he was invited to attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers’ meeting and the Kashmir Contact Group in New York, where Kashmir’s plight was highlighted on the international stage.

Yet his defiance came at a cost. His passport was seized in 1981, and except for performing Hajj in 2006, he was never permitted to leave India. Arrests, house detentions, and restrictions marked his life. In 2010, he was even charged with sedition alongside writer Arundhati Roy and poet Varavara Rao for participating in the seminar “ALADI—The Only Way”.

His health, too, suffered. Diagnosed with renal cancer in 2006, he sought treatment abroad, but his visa requests were rejected—particularly by the United States, which cited his uncompromising stance. He underwent surgery in Mumbai instead, with his family alleging that his treatment was obstructed as part of political pressure.

Behind the resolute leader was a family that bore the weight of his lifelong struggle. He lived in Hyderpora, Srinagar, and had two sons—Nayeem and Naseem—and four daughters: Anisha, Farhat Jabeen, Zamshida, and Chamshida. His children and grandchildren pursued diverse paths: some in medicine, some in academia, some in aviation and teaching abroad. His extended family included activists like his son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Shah and journalists like his granddaughter Ruwa Shah, who continued to engage with Kashmir’s story in their own ways.

In the years following the 2019 Pulwama attack, the Indian government intensified its crackdown on Kashmiri separatists, and Geelani was among those targeted. In 2020, citing health and age, he resigned from the Hurriyat leadership but remained a symbolic figure of resistance.

On the night of 1 September 2021, at around 10:30 p.m., Syed Ali Shah Geelani passed away at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar, after prolonged illness and breathing complications. He was 91 years old.

Geelani’s life was not without controversy, but what remains undeniable is his role as the most uncompromising symbol of Kashmiri resistance in the modern era. He was at once an intellectual, an orator, and an activist—a man whose tears for his people flowed as freely as his fiery speeches.

His admirers remember him as a visionary who dreamed of a free, just, and peaceful Kashmir. His critics acknowledge his unwavering consistency, even if they disagree with his methods. For the people of Kashmir, he was more than a leader; he was a reminder that their struggle for dignity could never be silenced.

As I reflect on the hours spent with him in Delhi, listening to his vision for Kashmir, I realize that Syed Ali Shah Geelani lived as he died: a man of conviction, humility, and relentless faith in his people’s right to freedom.