Geelani move healing touch for Mufti policy

The sources said Mufti himself had spoken to Advani about the need to free the ailing Hurriyat leader. The state government had even sent its plane to airlift Geelani from Birsamunda Jail in Ranchi to be taken to the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai where he is likely to be operated upon tomorrow. The state government also flew Geelani’s favourite cardiologist Dr Khursheed Iqbal Kousger of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, from Srinagar to Mumbai today.

Though hardliners in the Valley are most likely to welcome the latest development, Mufti’s main problem would be to convince his ally, the Congress, which has asked him to defer his plan to release political prisoners as a goodwill gesture on Id till the Himachal Pradesh elections.

Sources said Mufti, who has been in the Capital for the last three days, was upset over the arrest of two Hurriyat leaders, who have been accused of receiving money from the Pakistan High Commission.

The CM reportedly conveyed to Advani on the sidelines of the CMs’ Conference on Internal Security that the episode has only helped ‘‘revive sympathies’’ for the Hurriyat, which otherwise was dying a natural death. Mufti, sources said, was particularly angry with the arrest of a woman activist since he feared it would generate support for the separatists.