Jailed Kashmiri Separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah dies of cancer

Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah and son-in-law of late Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, passed away this morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. He was 66.

Pertains to mention here that Shah was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2017, along with six other separatist leaders in terror funding case and was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail. Other prominent separatists in jail are Shabir Shah, Nayeem Khan, Shahidul Islam and former MLA Langate, Engineer Sheikh Rashid.

On October 5, the Delhi High Court had ordered his shifting to the AIIMS Delhi for proper treatment after he was diagnosed with renal cancer. The court had also directed that his son or daughter be allowed to meet him for an hour every day.

We were informed about Abu’s passing away late last night , his daughter Ruwa Shah said. A resident of Soura, Srinagar, Shah was also associated with Tehreek-e-Hurriyat founded by Geelani in 2004.

Shah is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. His son Anees ul Islam, eldest among the siblings had lost his government job in October 2021 for "being a threat to the security of the state”.