Ensure ‘proper healthcare’ for jailed separatist leader, Mufti urges Centre  

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday urged the Union Government to take a humanitarian view and ensure jailed separatist leader Shabir Shah, who is battling a “life-threatening illness” receives proper medical care.

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“Request @HMOIndia to urgently consider the heartfelt appeal of Seher Shabir, whose father Shabir Shah is battling a life-threatening illness,” Mufti said in a post on X.

“This may be the family’s last chance to ease his suffering. Please let compassion guide the response,” she added.

Mufti was commenting about Shah’s daughter Sehar Shabir Shah, who took to X to write about his father’s health.

“This is not political. This is not anti-national. This is not against any country, institution or government. This is only about my father’s life. His health. His right to be treated with dignity,” she said.

“My father, Shabir Shah, has spent 38 years in prison. No conviction. No justice,” she lamented.

She further asserted that his father was gravely ill and had been advised multiple surgeries. She alleged that there was no proper care, no access to medical records and not even a single phone call had been allowed in two years, saying it was a right that every prisoner was entitled to.

Handwara MLA and People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone also extended support, saying: “Getting treatment is a very basic right. I humbly stand in solidarity with his family in demanding that he be allowed access to medical facilities and the very basic right of being surrounded by his family when he fights for his health.”

Earlier, Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had also raised the issue of Shabir Shah’s health. “Reports of Shabir Shah Sahab’s serious health condition in Tihar Jail and denial of access to his family members to talk to him on phone for the past two years or care for him, when he is facing such a medical emergency and is in dire need of a surgery, are very unfortunate and disturbing,” Umar said during his Friday sermon last week.