Sampat Prakash, Kashmiri Pandit activist whose interviews created a political storm in the region died on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, one of the family members of the Kashmiri Activist said that the 85-year-old passed away in Srinagar.
According to the family member, Sampat Prakash son of Neelkanth Kandu suffered a cardiac arrest after which he was rushed to the Sher-e Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.
“Upon our arrival at the hospital Sampat ji was declared brought dead,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
Sampat Prakash was a great advocate of harmony among various religious, social, ethnic and political identities in Kashmir. He promoted inter-faith dialogue between Kashmiri Pandits, Muslims and Sikhs throughout his life.
Known for his fearless voice, Sampat Prakash’s political career dated back to 1967 when he was arrested after calling for a general strike of J-K government employees in 1967 to demand the right to receive benefits accorded to other Central and state government employees.
As a result of the Preventive Detention Law, which the Indian Parliament approved, Sampat was detained and taken to Tihar Jail. His acts were considered “detrimental towards the state’s security”, as was mentioned in the detention order.
Since then, Sampat had been advocating that the “great” Articles 370 and 35A are Kashmir’s defence and identity.
His 60 years fight for Jammu Kashmir never ended till his last breath. During his days as a trade unionist, he participated in 1300 strikes, was jailed several times.
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