Within hours of the sidelined Kashmiri separatist Syed Alishah Geelani spitting venom against India and calling for shutdown and civil curfew in J&K on 5 and 15 August, the Pakistani Senate unanimously adopted a resolution for conferring him with the highest civil award ‘ Nishan-e-Pakistan’.

The resolution moved by the government and opposition benches also called upon the government to name the proposed ‘Pakistan University of Engineering and Emerging Technologies’ near Prime Minister House in Islamabad as ‘ Syed Alishah Geelani University of Engineering and Emerging Technologies’.

Geelani has been calling for shutdown in Kashmir on the Independence Day, Republic Day and also to protest against killing of top terrorists, but now he has also added in the list 5 August when the centre last year abrogated the Article 370 providing special status to J&K and also split the state into two union territories (UTs).

In his appeal for agitation, Geelani said that 5 August has gone down in the history of sub-continent as the “blackest day”. He also urged Kashmiris living abroad to assemble outside Indian embassies to protest against the centre’s action.

The Pakistani Senate on Monday unanimously passed a resolution lauding the “selfless and relentless struggle and sacrifices” of Gilani for the right of self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Senate also expressed concern over Syed Ali Shah Gilani’s “continued unjustified house arrest in frail health at the age of 90 years”.
The senate decided to hold its session in the legislative assembly of Muzaffarabad, headquarters of the POK, on 5 August which marks the first anniversary of abrogation of Article 370.

It is worth mentioning that accusing the Pakistan backed separatists of indulging in corruption and nepotism, Geelani had last month on 29 June quit from leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) when Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI unceremoniously sidelined him and nominated someone else to lead the APHC. Geelani’s comeback indicates that his PoK based substitute has probably failed to come up to the expectations of the ISI and as such they were again propping Geelani for their anti-India campaign.