After nearly nine months of detention under the Public Safety Act, Hurriyat stalwart, Mohammed Ashraf Sehrai in his late 70s passed away in Jammu’s Government Medical College (GMC), nearly 350 kilometers away from his home in Srinagar.
Ashraf as per his family was suffering from covid like symptoms when he was shifted to the GMC. However, they told The Kashmiriyat that he had been unwell for a long time now inside the jail.
Mohammed Ashraf Khan’s (Sehrai) Political career began at the age of 22 in the year 1965 when was jailed for the first time for “Anti-Government Activities” after the Moi-Muqadas Tehreek of 1963.
Born in the year 1944 in the Tekipora area of Lolab in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, it was his forefather who migrated to Jammu Kashmir from pre-Partition Pakistan.
As per his family, Mr. Sehrai studied at his native for primary level education and then moved to Sogam High School for further studies where he passed his matriculation examination in 1959. Sehrai earned a scholarship in class 10 for his excellent performance in Persian, Arabic, and Urdu languages. He did B.A (Hons) in Urdu from the renowned Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
During his childhood, he was actively participating in religious and political debates. He has authored several poems published in ‘Azaan’ and ‘Tulu’ magazines.
In 1963, Kashmir was exploding over the mysterious disappearance of Moy e Muqaddas (holy relic) of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar. Within days of the theft, it created a massive revolt, and carrying black flags marched towards the Hazratbal shrine.
The Police started arresting various people from the Kashmir valley and Sehrai too was among the thousands detained on March 13, 1965, for the speech he delivered at Pattan.
In 2004, when the Hurriyat split into two, Ashraf Sehrai helped Geelani form his own faction and initially served as the General Secretary of the group. He later was elected as the chairman through a first-ever-election held by the party in 2018.
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In the same year, his son Junaid Ashraf joined the militant outfit, Hizb ul Mujahideen. The then Director-General of Jammu Kashmir Police had asked Mr. Sehrai to appeal his son (Junaid) to return home. Upon which Mr. Sehrai responded, “Junaid Ashraf is a young and educated person, fully capable of taking decisions on his own”.
“He didn’t consult me before leaving his house. He opted for whatever he felt right for him,” he said. Asked whether he would call back his son as suggested by the director-general of police SP Vaid, Sehrai said, “See it is not just my son. There are sons of others out there. The blood of sons of others is equally important as that of my son. I can’t ask my son to return as he chose a path he thought is best for him.”
In one of his interviews Mr. Sehrai speaking of the detentions of Hurriyat leaders, activists said, “What kind of democracy cages Free Speech.”