BJP to raise Geelani's anti-India speech at J&K round-table

The Bharatiya Janata Party plans raise the issue of an anti-India speech delivered by separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani during the round table conference on Kashmir in New Delhi on Tuesday.

This was disclosed by party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad at a press conference in New Delhi.

Geelani had delivered the speech at Idgah Maidan in Srinagar on Sunday

"We would like to know if Geelani has been booked under sedition for making the anti-India speech and what was the state government doing when the television channels were showing it live. Cases were registered after the event and not during the speech. Flags of Lashkar-e-Tayiba were raised during the rally. We strongly condemn the public demand of self-determination and complete demilitairsation," he said.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the incident cannot be viewed in isolation, particularly with the resurgence of United Liberation Front of Asom in Assam during the United Progressive Alliance regime.

"Now they are so emboldened that even senior officers of the government of India undertakings are being kidnapped," BJP said.

"Each time the army has an upper hand on terrorists on the run, the demilitarisation issue is raised. The government must clarify its position on the exact meaning of self-determination. Is it a facade for self-determination? The BJP would like to emphatically state that it shall not permit any compromise with the sovereignty and complete territorial inegrity of Jammu and Kashmir with India," he said.