Hurriyat slams Geelani's detention, Omar's stance

The hard-line Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday said it was willing to consider the offer of talks by Centre-appointed interlocutors, but the Delhi police's restriction orders on Syed Ali Shah Geelani had put a spanner in this direction.

"Hurriyat had decided to discuss the invitation of the Centre's interlocutors after the return of Geelani from Delhi, but his detention has delayed the proposed meeting, where a final decision would have been taken on the issue," Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar said in a statement.

It seems that the Centre wants to 'force' the Hurriyat Conference into dialogue at gunpoint, he said.

Hurriyat had received an invitation from the Centre-appointed interlocutors headed by veteran journalist Dileep Padgaonkar on February 19.

Geelani, who had visited New Delhi to receive medical treatment, has been asked by the Delhi police not to leave the capital as it wants to grill him in connection with a hawala case.

Three persons, including Geelani's close aide Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, are already in custody for their alleged involvement in the case.

The spokesman also criticised the statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who had asserted that Geelani had not been arrested.

"When a person has been notified in writing that he cannot return home, what else can it be other than detention? Police personnel are surrounding the residence of Geelani at Delhi round the clock," he said.

Akbar said the use of 'undemocratic and coercive tactics' have not yielded any results in the past and such measures would fail in the future as well.