SRINAGAR, 6 May, 2021 (TON): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, prominent pro-freedom senior APHC leader and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai has died at the age of 77 in Indian custody in Jammu. 

Booked under draconian Public Safety Act, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai was shifted to Udhampur Jail in Jammu on July 12, 2020. His condition deteriorated in jail, but was not given timely access to doctor and was only shifted, yesterday, to a hospital in Jammu where he died. 

Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai was suffering from multiple diseases and was not provided with any treatment during his incarceration. His family members were kept unaware of his health condition.  

All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an amalgam of pro-freedom groups in the region, accused authorities of not taking his health condition seriously.  

“Despite repeated appeals to release political prisoners lodged in various jails on humanitarian grounds in view of the devastating Covid catastrophe, authorities are playing with their lives,” the statement said. 

APHC Working Vice Chairman Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar in a statement issued in Srinagar blamed the criminal negligence of the Modi government for the death of Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai in custody. He termed it as the ruthless behavior of the Indian Imperialism towards the pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders, imprisoned in solitude in various jails of India without medical facilities. They said that the regime is directly responsible for his death in custody. 

Sehrai was a long-time deputy of Syed Ali Gilani, and was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami. 

Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai was a staunch freedom fighter and had allowed his son Junaid Sehrai to join the ranks of armed struggle. Junaid was martyred on May 19, 2020 in Srinagar. 

India jailed thousands of Kashmiris, including prominent resistance leaders, as part of its massive crackdown in the wake of the removal of the Himalayan region’s limited autonomy on August 5, 2019. India’s only Muslim region is now directly ruled by the country’s home ministry.