Geelani’s tactical moves is, as mentioned earlier, influenced greatly by the Jamaat-e-Islami. He has rightly recognized the need to keep alive his support among the Jamaat cadres, which gives him credibility as a leader. However, Geelani seems to harbor serious doubts as to whether these cadres would actually continue to support him the way they do, even if he left the Jamaat fold. Thus, remaining in the mainstream of Jamaat politics is crucial for Geelani, and he seems to have handled that deftly. Instead of opting out of the Jamaat, he decided to use the impending Jamaat elections to gain key positions in the party.

His strategy paid dividends when, in a virtual endorsement of his policies on July 27, 2003, Geelani was elected as one of the five representatives at the State level, getting as many as 1200 of the 2000 votes in the preliminary polls. A day later, the internal party polls culminated in the election of Nazir Ahmad Kashani as the new Jamaat chief, replacing the moderate G.M Bhat.  Bhat had not enjoyed the best of relationships with Geelani because of his handling of the “war of words” between Geelani and Lone. The election of Kashani, who maintains a good rapport with Geelani, sent a clear message to the Hurriyat about the support that Geelani enjoys within the Jamaat. The separatist leader had earlier been sidelined due to the Bhat lobby, but has now emerged stronger.

Earlier, Geelani had challenged the election of Moulvi Moulana Abbas Ansari as the chairman of the Hurriyat on constitutional grounds. Geelani claimed that for election to the post of Chairman, all Executive Committee members should be present, whereas during Ansari’s election, neither was any representative from Jamaat-e-Islami present nor was Yasin Malik, chief of the JKLF present. This blunt rejection of the validity of the elections also stems from the fact that Ansari also gave a clean chit to the People’s Conference without even seeking a report from the 3 member committee that had been constituted to have talks with Geelani and Lone. Interestingly, Ansari himself was a member of that committee, along with the Mirwaiz and Yasin Malik.

While Geelani had repeatedly threatened a split, the Hurriyat leaders had maintained a studied silence, suggesting that these are internal problems that the Hurriyat will soon resolve, dismissing rumors of an imminent split. Chairman Ansari had said in an interview that “the people who had taken part in the assembly elections have been removed from the APHC”, to appease Geelani. Ansari also expressed his willingness to take Geelani’s new party into the Hurriyat fold.

The new strength that Geelani derived from a friendly Jamaat leadership just gave him more leverage in his dealings with the Hurriyat and Ansari’s efforts to strike truce did not bear fruit. The recent split in the Hurriyat seemed imminent, and would not have come as a surprise to many. While there were groups hoping that the Hurriyat would overcome its internal differences, people had lost confidence in the Hurriyat as a powerful political entity. With 13 parties leaving the Hurriyat fold, both the Ansari and the Geelani factions will have to prepare for a long drawn battle to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Obviously, a long march lies ahead.