The Jammu and Kashmir government on Sunday said ailing Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani, 90, was stable and conscious. The Valley’s popular Sunday Market was shut in the wake of rumours about deterioration in his health.

“The condition of senior political leader Syed Ali Geelani is stable, and he is conscious, cooperative and oriented,” A.G. Ahangar, Director, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, said here.

The government said a team of doctors was monitoring his condition. “Mr. Geelani is better than before, taking liquid diet and other medicines prescribed by chest physician Naveed from the Chest Medicine Department of the Government Medical College, Srinagar,” an official health bulletin said.

Meanwhile, the security agencies and the officials of the civil administration held several meetings in Srinagar to deliberate on the situation arising in case of deterioration in Mr. Geelani’s health. The Hurriyat leader has wished to be buried at the ‘Martyrs Graveyard’ in Srinagar’s Eidgah area. However, the authorities have been indecisive whether to allow the family to bury the separatist leader in the old city or not.