Mirpur,
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai breathed his last on Wednesday while in Indian custody in occupied Jammu, said a report from across the line of control (LoC).
The 80-year-old senior Kashmiri Hurriyat leader was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and passed away after a brief illness at Government Medical College (GMC) in occupied Jammu, the report said.
Sehrai was admitted to GMC on Tuesday after his health started deteriorating at Kot Bhalwal jail. He breathed his last this afternoon.
He was suffering from multiple diseases and was not provided any treatment during his incarceration. His family members were kept unaware of his health condition, according to the report.
The Kashmir freedom struggle leader was arrested on July 12, 2020, by Indian occupational forces from his residence in occupied Srinagar and was lodged at Udhampur Jail.
Sehrai was elected as the Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a constituent of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which was previously headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
He worked as a lieutenant of Geelani throughout his life and was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami in India-occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
Sehrai was known to be a hardcore 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.
APHC strongly condemned the custodial death of Sehrai. In a news release, APHC Vice Chairman Ghulam Ahamad Gulzar denounced the “ruthless behavior and barbaric attitude of the Indian Imperialism” towards the freedom loving leaders kept in solitude in various jails of India, without medical facilities and other basic amenities.
Paying rich tribute to the great freedom leader, Gulzar termed the death of Sehrai a sheer act of deliberate custodial killing for which the sole responsibility lay with the Modi-led fascist regime.
He urged United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to take serious cognizance of the death.
He also appealed to the freedom loving people of Kashmir to observe a complete general strike on May 6 (tomorrow) to record protest against the custodial killing of the veteran Hurriyat leader.
