Kashmiri leader Altaf Ahmad Shah dies in India custody

Illegally detained senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Altaf Ahmad Shah has embraced martyrdom in Indian custody, Radio Pakistan reported.

Altaf Ahmad Shah, 66 – who was son-in-law of the icon of Kashmir freedom movement Syed Ali Gilani – had been languishing in New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail after his arrest in 2017.

He breathed his last late Monday night in AIIMS Hospital, New Delhi, just days after he was diagnosed with the last stage of renal cancer that had spread to other parts of his body.

Shah's daughter, journalist Ruwa Shah, took to Twitter, saying: "Abu [father] breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi."

According to Al Jazeera, Shah’s family had, in the past, made several appeals for release on bail or access to better medical care for the APHC leader, who also suffered from hypertension and diabetes for years, putting him in a high-risk category during India’s coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

The family said Shah was moved to New Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on September 24 after a prolonged illness in jail. A week later, he was diagnosed with advanced renal cancer.

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Earlier, Ruwa also highlighted her father’s deteriorating health and to demand better treatment. She also wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, appealing for bail on health grounds.

“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,” Ruwa said in a tweet on September 30.

On October 5, Shah was moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in the capital where he died.