Jammu and Kashmir, March 19: Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Monday has resigned as the chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. Senior Hurriyat leader Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai replaced Geelani as the chairman of the party. "The Tehreek-e-Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Geelani today held a meeting at its office in Srinagar and elected senior member Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai as the party chairman," said a spokesperson.

Geelani has been viewed as a key separatist leader in Kashmir Valley and has been vocal on advocating Kashmiri separatism. Former Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah has long blamed Geelani for the rise in militancy and bloodshed in Kashmir Valley, while Omar's father and former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah has urged Geelani to follow a path which would "save Kashmiri people from further destruction". He was an MLA from the Sopore constituency of Jammu and Kashmir three times. (1972, 1977 and 1987)