Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Shah dies of cancer in AIIMS

Srinagar: Jailed Kashmiri leader Altaf Ahmad Shah passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi early on Tuesday, his family said.
His daughter Ruwa Shah confirmed the death.
“Abu (father) breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi. As a prisoner,” Ruwa tweeted.
The body has been handed over to his family in Delhi.
Altaf Shah, son-in-law of late Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2017, along with other separatist leaders, in an alleged terror funding case and was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
Sixty-six-year-old Shah, according to the family, was diagnosed with renal cancer that spread to other parts of his body.
His family had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to consider his bail application on health grounds.
The family later moved the Delhi High Court and on October 1 it ordered that Shah be shifted to AIIMS in Delhi.
Altaf Shah, also known as Altaf Fantosh, belonged to a wealthy merchant family in Srinagar. In his youth, he was associated with Islamic Jamiat ul Tulba and Jamaat-e-Islami. He rose to prominence in separatist circles on the basis of his relationship with Syed Ali Geelani.
In 2003 when Geelani established his own Hurriyat Conference faction and broke away from Jamaat-e-Islami and founded Tehreek Hurriyat, Altaf Shah was his closest confidant. He was made in charge of the legal cell of New Hurriyat.
Altaf Shah is the second separatist leader to die in custody following the central government’s decision to end Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status. In May last year, senior Hurriyat leader Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai died at Jammu’s Hospital where he was shifted from Udhampur Jail in a critical condition.
Kashmiri separatist group All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) expressed shock and grief over the death of Altaf Shah (Fantoosh).
In a statement APHC expressed grave concern over the plight of the Kashmiri prisoners who have been languishing for years in various jails in India including Tihar .
It appealed to the government and rights organizations to ensure that better care is provided to the of prisoners and adequate medical facilities. (UNI)