New Delhi: The daughters of detained Hurriyat leader Aftab Hilali, popularly known as Shahid-ul-Islam, on Wednesday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking his intervention for the release of their “ailing father” from Tihar jail.
Hilali was arrested in connection with a funding case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017 and he tested positive for COVID-19 inside the high security prison last week.
“…for the last around a week he has been shifted to some undisclosed location and we have no contact with him. We do not even know if he is alive. The death of jailed Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chief Ashraf Sehrai at a hospital in Jammu, a few hours after he was hospitalized has made us even more worried about the well-being of our father,” Suzain Shah (18) and Sundas Shah (14) said in a letter addressed to the home minister.
The letter was circulated on social media.
The daughters of the separatist leader claimed that the condition of their father, who has comorbidities, including acute diabetes, deteriorated after testing positive.
“Our father has always worked for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue and thus, deserves every compassion in these testing times,” they said, requesting Shah to consider their appeal for their father’s release on humanitarian grounds and save their family from devastation. PTI

Press Trust of India