Photo/ Shah Tantray~ Caravan Magazine

REGIONAL

Govt granting freedom to criminals, Political prisoners left to die in Jails, Mehbooba Mufti on Altaf Ahmad Shah’s demise

By News Desk

October 11, 2022

The People’s Democratic party chair, Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday criticized the Central Government and said that political prisoners are left to suffer in jails.

“Not only was Altaf Shah made to suffer, but his family is also being made to wait to receive his dead body so that they can perform his last rites. The family has been waiting since morning at AIIMS to get Altaf Shah’s dead body,” Mehbooba Mufti said.

It is not about Altaf Shah only, Stan Swamy died in jail for the want of treatment. “Many Kashmiri political prisoners are suffering from multiple ailments, but nobody pays attention to their plight. The Government on the other hand not only frees crime convicts but also felicitates these criminals,” she said.

Meanwhile, All Parties Hurriyat Conference in a statement expressed shock and grief over the death of Altaf Ahmad Shah (Fantoosh), under detention in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2017.

Altaf Ahmad Shah Sahib suffered from renal cancer and despite repeated appeals from their family for bail due to their critical health condition, he was denied it and only very lately taken to AIIMS where he breathed his last, in detention, Hurriyat said in a statement.

Expressing sympathies with the family of the deceased Hurriyat leader, the statement read, “APHC expressed grave concern over the plight of the Kashmiri prisoners who have been languishing for years in various jails in India including Tihar. It said that due to a lack of proper medical facilities the ailing prisoners’ lives are always at a risk.”