Kashmiri leader Altaf Ahmad Shah martyred in New Delhi in Indian captivity
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Ghulam Muhammad Butt were also martyred during Indian captivity
NEW DELHI ( Web News )
All Parties Hurriyat Conference senior leader Altaf Ahmed Shah martyred in New Delhi in Indian captivity. Altaf Ahmed Shah was the son-in law of late Quaid Tehreek-e-Azadi Jammu Kashmir Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Altaf Ahmed Shah passed away on Tuesday morning at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. He was 66. Altaf Ahmed Shah was associated with the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, founded by Syed Ali Shah Geelani in 2004.
“Abu (father) breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi. As a prisoner,” Ruwa Shah, his daughter, confirmed in a tweet. Altaf Ahmed Shah’s daughter Ruwa Shah confirmed his demise. “Abu [father] breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi. As a prisoner,” she wrote on twitter.
Shah was kept in Tihar jail with many other Hurriyat leaders after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2018 in an alleged terror funding case.
Other prominent separatists in detention are Shabir Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Shahidul Islam and former MLA Engineer Sheikh Rashid. Over the last six months, Ruwa Shah had been urging the authorities to intervene and shift him to hospital as his health was deteriorating.
Four days back, Ruwa Shah had put out a tweet asking government to shift him to AIIMS from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, saying the acute renal cancer was spreading to other body parts in his body.
“My incarcerated father has been diagnosed of acute renal cancer which has metastasis and has spread to his other body parts, including his bones. It is my whole family’s request to please allow us to see him and consider his bail application on health grounds @HMOIndia @PMOIndia,” Ruwa Shah said in her tweet.
According to his daughter, Shah was diagnosed with renal cancer that spread to other parts of his body, and was shifted to Delhi’s RML hospital that had no oncology department.
Two weeks back, the Delhi High Court had ordered that Shah be shifted to AIIMS in Delhi, but he was moved to the hospital only a few days ago. The court had also directed that his son or daughter be allowed to meet him for an hour every day.
Ruwa had been regularly tweeting about the plight of her father and also written an open letter to the Prime Minister seeking medical care for her father.
The family is trying to go through the formalities of getting his body to Srinagar for burial. In all likelihood the body will be buried in Srinagar.
Shah, a resident of Soura locality of Srinagar, was arrested on July 25, 2017 with six others, facing trial in an alleged terror funding case probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
On October 5, the Delhi High court has ordered his shifting to the AIIMS Delhi for appropriate treatment after he was stated to have been diagnosed with cancer. Shah told the court he was receiving treatment for certain serious ailments at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) but it was recently revealed he was suffering from the last stage renal cancer.
While claiming the RML does not have the adequate facility to treat renal cancer, he prayed he be allowed to be shifted to the AIIMS or Apollo Hospital for urgent treatment. Shah is survived by wife, son and two daughters.
“My father who is critically ill with Pneumonia, uncontrollable diabetes & chronic kidney disease has been requesting the jail authorities to move him to proper hospital instead of jail ICU where he is currently on oxygen support,” Ruwa Shah had written on Twitter on September 21.
It is worth mentioning here that many Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai and Ghulam Muhammad Butt were also martyred during Indian captivity.