Jammu: Prominent separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, who was arrested underneath the Public Safety Act in July final 12 months, died at a hospital right here on Wednesday, officers stated.
Sehrai, 77, a detailed confidant of hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was incarcerated on the district jail in Udhampur. He was shifted to Jammu’s Government Medical College (GMC) hospital after his well being deteriorated on Tuesday, the officers stated. “Sehrai, who replaced Geelani as chairperson of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in 2018, had tested negative for COVID-19 in a rapid antigen test. His RTPCR report is still awaited,” they stated. “He had COVID-19 symptoms and his oxygen levels had fallen,” the officers added.
They stated Sehrai, who had been jailed in Udhampur since July 13, 2020, had been affected by varied illnesses. He complained of breathlessness on Tuesday and was taken to the district hospital in Udhampur. When his state of affairs didn’t enhance, he was moved to the GMC, about 55 kilometres away, the place he breathed his final round midday on Wednesday following acute respiratory misery, the officers stated. His youngest son Junaid Ashraf Khan had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit in March 2018 and was later killed in an encounter with safety forces in Srinagar on May 19, 2020.
Sehrai was a kind of detained throughout a lockdown forward of the revocation of particular standing to Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two union territories in August 2019. He was lastly arrested underneath the PSA from his Barzaulla residence in Srinagar in July final 12 months. Originally hailing from Tekipura village in Lolab in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, Sehrai joined the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) at a younger age and remained related to Geelani for over six a long time. He was detained quite a few instances on costs of finishing up anti-government and anti-national actions.
Sehrai was Geelani’s predominant supporter and aide when he launched the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in 2004 after parting methods with the Jamaat. he was appointed as appearing chairperson by Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in March 2018 and was later elected as chairperson for 3 years after Geelani stepped down from the publish.
Peoples Conference president and former minister Sajad Lone paid tribute to Sehrai and stated, “Sehrai Sahib was a political leader not a terrorist”. In a collection of tweets, Lone remembered his assembly with the leader and requested, “And why did he have to die in incarceration and not at his home amongst his kin and loved ones. Have we become so weak that an old infirm dying person is a threat to the state. I am not being critical. But please introspect? ”
“This is the irony of Kashmiri politics. Top quality politicians consumed by the conflict. The ideological versatility of Kashmir politics is a curse. A transparently honest politician spent decades in jail,” he added.
