Geelani recommended LeT operative's name for Pak visa?

The Delhi police are expected to question Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani over alleged links with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.

Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had issued a letter recommending the name of Ahtesham Malik, one of the two suspected Lashkar-e-Tayyiba militants, who were arrested in New Delhi on Wednesday for a Pakistani visa, say sources. The Delhi police are expected to grill Geelani on the matter.

Papers seized from Malik include a visa recommendation from Geelani, according to insiders.

However, Rajan Bhagat, public relations officer of the Delhi police, refused to comment. "There is no such information with us at the moment," he told rediff.com on Friday. 

Malik along with another person was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police on Wednesday at a railway station. They were part of a group that was planning an attack in the capital.

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According to the police, both men had been trained in Pakistan and were found with flash drives that showed videos of how to assemble bombs.

Malik's cousin Tauseef Ahmad Pir was picked up from Hazaribagh on Wednesday night and placed under arrest on Thursday by the Jharkhand police on the basis of interrogation of Malik and the other LeT operative by the Delhi police.

Ayaz Akbar, spokesman for the Geelani faction of All Party Hurriyat Conference, told rediff.com that the separatist leader could have issued a letter to Malik for a visa. "How would he know the real intent of the person's visit to Pakistan," he said on phone from Srinagar.

Sources close to Geelani told rediff.com that this is not the first time that the separatist leader has issued letters for Pakistani visa to any Kashmiri citizen. "He issues letters to everyone who seeks his help. He is essentially a trouble aker and loves to be in limelight all the time," a leading Kashmiri journalist said.

Geelani is currently undergoing heart related treatment in Fortis Escorts Hospital.