June 29, 2020: Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has resigned from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Monday morning. Geelani released an audio message wherein he made the announcement.

“In view of the present situation, I resign from All Parties Hurriyat Conference. I have informed all the constituents of the Hurriyat about the decision,” the ailing separatist leader said.

He said all the constituents of his faction of the Hurriyat had been informed, in a detailed letter, about the decision.

Under house arrest since 2013 in his Srinagar residence, Mr. Geelani, who is 90, was earlier associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami but left it to float his own political organisation, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. He also split from the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faction of the Hurriyat over the approaches adopted to resolve the Kashmir problem.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference is an alliance of several separatists groups in Kashmir. The group was established in 1993.

The Hurriyat Conference is currently headed by cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.