India: Kashmiri Separatist Leader Dies In Custody
Altaf Ahmad Shah, a prominent member of Kashmir's separatist group Hurriyat, died on Monday night at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), according to his family. The cause of his death hasn't yet been disclosed.
Facts
- Altaf Ahmad Shah, a prominent member of Kashmir's separatist group Hurriyat, died on Monday night at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), according to his family. The cause of his death hasn't yet been disclosed.
- Shah had been incarcerated in connection to an alleged "terror-funding case" for the past five years, and lodged in New Delhi's Tihar prison. Last month, he was diagnosed with cancer and transferred to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital.
- On Oct. 1, the New Delhi High Court ordered him to be transferred to the AIIMS - as the RML hospital had no oncology department - and allowed his son and daughter to visit him for an hour every day.
- During the pandemic, his family had appealed several times for him to be released on bail or granted access to better medical care as Shah also suffered from hypertension and diabetes, leaving him at high risk.
- He's the fourth separatist leader from India-controlled Kashmir to have died in police custody over the past three years amid a mounting crackdown on Kashmiri rebels by Indian authorities, who stripped the region of semi-autonomy in 2019.
- Both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over Kashmir, with an armed rebellion claiming the lives of tens of thousands since the late 1980s. Rebels want to either merge with Pakistan or create an independent state.
Sources: Hindu, Associated Press, Indian Express, Tribune, Abc, and Al Jazeera.
Narratives
- Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by KMS. Altaf Shah devoted his life for the sacred cause of freedom and deserves to be remembered as a hero of the Kashmiri people. His custodial killing exposes that every other freedom activist jailed in India is under threat as Modi's fascist regime seeks to eliminate them and won't comply with its legal duty to protect their lives.
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Times of India. Though the death of a human being is always sad news and those grieving the loss of a loved one must be respected , it's important to stick to the truth. Altaf Shah died in custody because he was facing a trial on charges of funding terror activities, and Indian authorities diligently granted him medical treatment for cancer and several other diseases.
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