Geelani storms out of Sri Sri meet, not others

Stressing on ‘‘political freedom’’ as the basis of human values, Geelani urged Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to ‘‘take this message’’ back to New Delhi. ‘‘Freedom is the highest blessing for people from God and once this has been snatched, no people on earth can live peacefully,’’ Geelani said.

The Hurriyat leader then stormed out of the meeting, leaving behind a stunned audience. However, moderate leader and JKLF chief Yasin Malik took over and steered the debate back to spiritualism, saying ‘‘I will not speak on politics.” Then, former Hurriyat chief Moulana Abbas Ansari—part of the dove camp—took a potshot at Geelani, saying, ‘‘Quoting from religious scriptures is good but it doesn’t give us a licence to browbeat others.’’

Finally, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar responded to the separatist voices: ‘‘Now the people and nations need more of interdependence rather than independence to live peacefully.’’

Later, he told The Indian Express that he does not hold any political view on Kashmir issue. ‘‘But spirituality will help bring together the fragmented views here and help solve the problem,’’ he said.