SRINAGAR — Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Shah, who was the son-in-law of late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
Shah was a key member of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH), founded by his late father-in-law Syed Ali Geelani in 2004.
The news about Shah’s death was confirmed by her daughter Ruwa Shah on Twitter. “Abu breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi. As a prisoner (sic),” she tweeted.
Family sources said that he had been ailing with renal cancer during his incarceration in Tihar Jail from where he was first shifted to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital and later to AIIMS for treatment.
According to Ruwa, his father was diagnosed with renal cancer that spread to other parts of his body, and was shifted to Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital that had no oncology department. He was shifted to AIIMS for treatment a few days ago.
Sixty-six-year-old Shah, who was facing charges of terror funding, was arrested in 2017 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and was lodged in Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail. He was one of the seven people detained in connection with the case.
Ruwa, who is a journalist, had repeatedly called on the Union and Delhi government, in last six months,to provide her father with emergency medical attention due to his deteriorating health.
In a tweet on October 2, Ruwa said, “His lungs are not functioning. No has dropped. They’re not letting us see him before they put him on ventilator. They are not moving him to AIIMS. since 2 days RML is only providing vital support and nothing else. Delay in treatment is causing harm that is irreversible.”
In her tweets, Ruwa had tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for assistance.