In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the family of incarcerated All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader, Altaf Ahmed Shah, who has been diagnosed with cancer has demanded his immediate release.
The APHC leader has been undergoing illegal detention at New Delhi’s infamous Tihar jail for the last over five years.
Altaf Shah’s daughter and Kashmiri journalist, Ruwa Shah, taking to the Twitter wrote, “My incarcerated father has been diagnosed with 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.”
A court of India’s notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) rejected APHC leader’s bail on Friday and adjourned the hearing of the false case registered against him till 10 October.
“His condition is very critical and deteriorating, as I write,” Ruwa Shah wrote. He is presently on oxygen support in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) of RML (Ram Manohar Lohia) hospital – where there is no oncology department, she said.
The Kashmiri journalist has also written to the Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah, seeking his immediate intervention on the matter. “The court on Saturday asked the NIA to submit fresh medical reports on 6th October. Till then he’s at RML hospital where there is no possible further treatment of the patient. I along with my family request you to please allow us to see him and also consider moving him to Apollo (hospital) and release him from custody so that his ailing wife and children can see him at this critical juncture,” Ruwa Shah wrote in her letter addressed to Amit Shah.
She also requested that his bail application be reconsidered and granted on health grounds as his condition is very critical and deteriorating. Till the bail is granted, with due process, we request you to put him in house arrest so that we can treat him at a private hospital, Ruwa Shah added.
Earlier, Ruwa had written a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention in the deteriorating health of her father who has been languishing in Tihar jail since 2017.
The NIA in July 2017 arrested seven Kashmiri APHC leaders including Altaf Ahmad Shah in a false case. Other leaders are Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Merajuddin Kalwal and Shahidul Islam.—KMS
