the indian state has been loathe to have any truck with syed ali shah geelani given his stated position on kashmir that a plebiscite is the only way forward and that kashmirs destiny lies with pakistan but he might just be a good interlocutor to engage todayat 81 syed ali shah geelani still retains the fire that has made people in jammu and kashmir acknowledge him as one of the valleys most charismatic leaders soon after his release from his recent spell in jail he went where mainstream politicians feared to tread he attended the funeral of one of the youths killed by security forces when a stone hit his car geelani jumped out and demanded to know which government agent had dared attack him as silence descended on the agitated mob the firebrand separatist made an impassioned appeal for peaceful protests violence must not be allowed to mar our cause he thundered the funeral procession proceeded quietly after that it was the first funeral in two months that did not end with a death after clashes with security forces ever since geelani asked protestors to make nonviolence their strategy a semblance of calm has descended on the troubled valley at a time when mainstream politicians are being rejected as corrupt and puppets of delhi geelani has emerged as the man who best represents the aspirations of the kashmiris the irony is that he stands out not so much because of his propakistan politics but because he is seen as a man of principle someone who has not changed his stand over the years and not sold out to either new delhi or islamabad in fact according to analysts in srinagar his image received a fillip after he took on former pakistan president pervez musharraf by rejecting the latters fourpoint peace formula that in effect acknowledged the division of jk along the line of control delhi has always been wary of engaging with him because of his consistent demand for a unsponsored plebiscite and his avowed conviction that the future of jk lies with pakistan not india yet despite his refusal to accept jks accession to the union of india geelani has in the past contested elections to the state assembly he became an mla first in 1972 and during the tumultuous years between 1987 and 1989 when kashmir was up in arms against the rigged elections won by farooq abdullahs national conference he was an influential opposition voice in the state assembly a student of islamic literature and history geelani has authored 30 books and writes and speaks fluent urdu he has spent around 14 years of his public life in prison at various junctures and is now suffering from renal cancer with barely half a kidney left after successive operations geelani is still the most effective shield against younger more radical elements in the tehreekehurriyat which he formed when the all parties hurriyat conference split into moderates and hardliners in 2003 but as analysts point