Mehbooba Mufti appeals to Centre to ensure medical care for jailed separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to take a "humanitarian view" in the case of jailed separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah by ensuring proper medical care for his life-threatening illness.

"Request @HMOIndia to urgently consider the heartfelt appeal of Sehar Shabir whose father Shabir Shah is battling a life-threatening illness. In this critical moment we urge GOI to take a humanitarian view by ensuring he receives proper medical care. This may be the family's last chance to ease his suffering. Please let compassion guide the response," Mufti posted on her X handle.

The former chief minister's appeal came after Shah's daughter, Sehar Shabir, posted an emotional appeal for "justice and compassion" for her father.


"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. Is your conscience alive?" the separatist leader's daughter posted on X.

She said that her father has spent 38 years in prison without a conviction.

"Today, he is gravely ill. He has been advised multiple surgeries. Yet there is no proper care, no access to medical records and not even a single phone call in two years which is a right every prisoner is entitled to," she said.

Sehar, who had issued an advertisement last year in local newspapers pleading allegiance to India's sovereignty over Jammu and Kashmir, said that Shah's family has been kept away from him.

"We, his family, are kept away. I have watched him suffer in silence, behind soundproof walls, iron grills and broken microphones. We cannot even touch him," said Sehar.

"I was misunderstood before. Speaking up as a daughter was seen as something else. It deeply affected my mother and elder sister. But how long can one remain silent while watching their father like this?" she asked.

Sehar said her post is a daughter's plea "for compassion, for justice and for basic humanity".

"If you still have a heart, please hear me. If justice means anything, let it speak now. Not when it is too late. Because if silence wins again, remember you were told. You knew. And you chose to look away," she added.