NEW DELHI: Altaf Ahmad Shah, a leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), died of renal cell cancer in a hospital in the capital of New Delhi while in the custody of the Indian government, Kashmir Media Service reported on Tuesday.
Shah, 66, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the early hours of Tuesday, his daughter said.
In a tweet, Ruwa Shah said her father breathed his last “as a prisoner” of the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Abu breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi. As a prisoner. https://t.co/EqxGyappW0
— Ruwa Shah (@ShahRuwa) October 10, 2022
Shah is the fourth pro-freedom leader from India-occupied Kashmir to have died in police custody in the last three years, noted The Associated Press.
Son-in-law of the Kashmir movement icon Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shah had been languishing in the infamous Tihar Jail in Delhi since his arrest in 2017 in a trumped-up terror funding case.
On October 1, the high court of Delhi ordered that Shah be shifted to a hospital in the capital a day after he was diagnosed with acute renal cancer that had spread to other parts of his body, including his bones, Ruwa said.
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 (@ShahRuwa) September 30, 2022
According to the Indian Express, over the last six months, Ruwa had made repeated appeals to the authorities, including the nation’s home minister, saying Shah is not keeping well and needed immediate medical attention.
The APHC had also urged New Delhi to free Shah on humanitarian grounds. It had maintained that the “illegally detained political prisoners”, including APHC leaders and activists, languishing in different prisons across India since at least 2017 have developed serious health issues due to a lack of healthcare facilities and hygienic meals.
Shah had been a leader of Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, a party established by Geelani, and worked closely with his late father-in-law who died last year after nearly a decade in house detention.
In Pakistan, a deeply grieved prime minister said Shah’s death amounted to “custodial killing” since the “Modi regime” denied him treatment knowing full he was a cancer patient.
Deeply grieved at passing of prominent Kashmiri leader Altaf Shah, son-in-law of Syed Ali Geelani, while in Indian captivity. Modi regime denied him treatment despite knowing he was cancer patient. Custodial killings are norm in Modi’s India. My condolences to the bereaved family
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 11, 2022
Shehbaz Sharif lamented that “custodial killings are the norm in Modi’s India”. “My condolences to the bereaved family,” he added.
