VHP demands Syed Ali Shah Geelani's arrest for meeting Pakistan envoy

ALLAHABAD: Terming the meeting between Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit at New Delhi as "an insult to India", the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( VHP) today demanded his arrest.

"The meeting (between Geelani and Basit) has come at a time when Parliament is in session and, more importantly, when high-level talks have resumed between India and Pakistan.

"The action of the Kashmiri separatist leader is obviously an insult to India. He should be arrested and tried for sedition," VHP international working president Praveen Togadia said in a statement issued here.

The VHP leader's statement comes a day after his outbursts against the newly-appointed Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, over the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam from jail.

Significantly, a meeting between Basit and Geelani, along with another separatist leader Yaseen Malik, in August last year was termed as "unacceptable" by the Narendra Modi government which went on to cancel talks with Pakistan scheduled later that month.