Kashmiris altogether strongly condemn custodial murder of Altaf Shah

 Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference leadership, Kashmir High Court Bar Association and civil society have strongly condemned the custodial murder of senior APHC leader Altaf Ahmad Shah in India’s infamous Tihar Jail.

Altaf Ahmad Shah, who was suffering from kidney cancer, was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in New Delhi only hours before his death, last night. He was imprisoned in the Delhi’s notorious Tihar Jail since 2017.

APHC Vice Chairman Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar in a special message from Srinagar central jail expressed shock and anguish over the custodial killing of Altaf Ahmed Shah said that it is a case of target killing. He appealed to the people to protest against this inhuman and brutal act. Paying homage to Altaf Ahmed Shah, the APHC vice chairman said that the martyr is a great hero of Kashmiri people. He devoted his whole life for the sacred cause of freedom. He said that custodial death of Altaf Ahmed Shah is a blot on the face of Indian democracy. He further said that fascist Modi regime is hell bent on eliminating freedom leadership under a deep-rooted conspiracy.

APHC General Secretary Molvi Bashir Ahmad Irfani called Altaf Ahmad Shah’s death an irreparable loss for the freedom movement. For the last 5 years, he had been incarcerated in Tihar jail and was not given access to medical treatment despite he was suffering from diabetes and kidney cancer. He said that death of Hurriyat leaders in custody is the only way of salvation form Indian inflictions.

Another APHC leader and Acting Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League, Abdul Ahad Parra regretted the death of Altaf Ahmad Shah and said that the lives of the freedom leaders and activists are in serious danger in Indian jails. He deplored the silence of the United Nations, international human rights organizations and other global platforms for keeping mum over killing of Kashmiri leaders and activists in Indian jails. Parra said that All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt and other senior leaders and activists including Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Aasiya Andrabi, Ayaz Akbar, Naeem Ahmad Khan, Shahidul Islam, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Pir Saifullah, Fahmida Sufi, Nahida Nasreen and Merajuddin Kalwam are also detained in the notorious Tihar Jail and their lives are under threat too. He appealed to the Secretary General of the United Nations to increase pressure on India for the immediate release of Kashmiri detainees.

Other Hurriyat leaders Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Syed Bashir Andrabi, Khawaja Firdous, Mir Shahid Saleem, Zamruda Habib, Farida Bahenji, Yasmeen Raja, Dr Mus’ab, Abdul Samad Inqilabi, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front have condemned the custodial death of Altaf Ahmad Shah.

The Kashmir Bar Association in a statement expressed shock over Altaf Shah’s unattended death in Tihar Jail. “JKHCBA believes the death of Altaf Shah amounts to custodial death due failure of legal duty of the prison authorities and failure of the courts to protect the life of the under-trial prisoners.”

The APHC-AJK leaders Mahmood Ahmed Saghar, Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal, Sheikh Abdul Mateen, Altaf Ahmad Butt, Syed Manzoor Ahmad Shah, Imtiaz Ahmad Wani, Altaf Wani, Haji Muhammad Sultan Butt, Uzair Ahmad Ghazali and US-based Kashmiri scholar Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai while expressing deep sorrow and regret said that the void created by the death of Altaf Ahmad Shah will never be filled.