News Analysis India

Tag: Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai

  • Restrictions tightened in Kashmir over COVID surge, separatist leader Mohammad Sehrai’s death

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: Normal life remained affected in many areas in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday with the imposition of the lockdown in the wake of an alarming surge in coronavirus cases, even as the restrictions were tightened in the Valley due to the death of separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, officials said.

    “Restrictions on the movement and assembly of people continued to remain imposed in many districts of the UT in the wake of the lockdown announced by the government,” the officials said.

    They said while curfew was in place across the Kashmir valley and in Jammu district, restrictions on the assembly of people were also imposed in many areas of the Jammu division.

    The restrictions were tightened in many areas of the valley following the death of Sehrai, who passed away at a hospital in Jammu on Wednesday, the officials said.

    Sehrai was under PSA detention at Udhampur jail where from he was shifted to a hospital after his health deteriorated.

    He was buried at his ancestral village in Kupwara district of north Kashmir in the early hours of the morning as per COVID protocol.

    The officials said security forces put barricades on roads at many places in the city here as well as in other district headquarters of the valley to prevent the movement of people.

    They said while the restrictions were being implemented strictly, essential and emergency services were allowed.

    The officials said shops, fuel stations and other business establishments were shut across the valley, while public transport was off the roads.

    On April 29, the Jammu and Kashmir administration imposed a curfew in 11 districts in a bid to tackle the surge in COVID-19 cases, which was subsequently extended to all the 20 districts the next day.

    The curfew, which was supposed to end at 7 am on May 3, was extended in the twin capitals of Jammu and Srinagar besides Budgam and Baramulla till 7 am Thursday.

    However, the authorities in other districts of the valley also ordered extension in the restrictions till Thursday.

  • Detained separatist leader Ashraf Sehrai dies in Jammu hospital

    By PTI
    JAMMU: Prominent separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, who was arrested under the Public Safety Act in July last year, died at a hospital here on Wednesday, officials said.

    Sehrai, 77, a close confidant of hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was incarcerated at the district jail in Udhampur.

    He was shifted to Jammu’s Government Medical College (GMC) hospital after his health deteriorated on Tuesday, the officials said.

    Sehrai, who replaced Geelani as chairperson of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in 2018, had tested negative for COVID-19 in a rapid antigen test.

    His RTPCR report is still awaited, they said.

    He had COVID-19 symptoms and his oxygen levels had fallen, the officials added.

    They said Sehrai, who had been jailed in Udhampur since July 13, 2020, had been suffering from various ailments.

    He complained of breathlessness on Tuesday and was taken to the district hospital in Udhampur.

    When his situation did not improve, he was moved to the GMC, about 55 kilometres away, where he breathed his last around noon on Wednesday following acute respiratory distress, the officials said.

    His youngest son Junaid Ashraf Khan had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit in March 2018 and was later killed in an encounter with security forces in Srinagar on May 19, 2020.

    Sehrai was one of those detained during a lockdown ahead of the revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two union territories in August 2019.

    He was finally arrested under the PSA from his Barzaulla residence in Srinagar in July last year.

    Originally hailing from Tekipura village in Lolab in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, Sehrai joined the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) at a young age and remained associated with Geelani for over six decades.

    He was detained numerous times on charges of carrying out anti-government and anti-national activities.

    Sehrai was Geelani’s main supporter and aide when he launched the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in 2004 after parting ways with the Jamaat.

    Sehrai was appointed as acting chairperson by Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in March 2018 and was later elected as chairperson for three years after Geelani stepped down from the post.

    Peoples Conference president and former minister Sajad Lone paid tribute to Sehrai and said, “Sehrai Sahib was a political leader not a terrorist”.

    In a series of tweets, Lone remembered his meeting with the leader and asked, “And why did he have to die in incarceration and not at his home amongst his kin and loved ones. Have we become so weak that an old infirm dying person is a threat to the state. I am not being critical.But please introspect. ”       

    “This is the irony of Kashmiri politics. Top quality politicians consumed by the conflict. The ideological versatility of Kashmir politics is a curse. A transparently honest politician spent decades in jail,” he added.

  • Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai dies in Jammu hospital

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: Senior separatist leader and chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, who was in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and lodged in a Jammu jail, passed away at a hospital in Jammu on Wednesday.

    Sehrai was shifted to the Government Medical College Jammu on Tuesday after his condition deteriorated at Kotbalwal jail, Jammu. He was suffering from multiple ailments.

    The 77-year-old Sehrai was arrested by the government last year and booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). After being booked under the PSA, he was shifted to Kotbalwal Jail, Jammu.

    Sehrai, who hailed from Tekipora village of Lolab Valley in Kupwara district, had taken over as chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat after hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani stepped down as chairman of the separatist group in March 2018.

    Sehrai was a close aide of Syed Ali Geelani.

    Sehrai’s son Junaid Sehrai, who was an MBA pass out and joined militancy, was killed in an encounter with security forces in downtown Srinagar last year.

    People’s Conference chairman and former minister Sajjad Gani Lone while paying tributes to Sehrai said a long political career comes to an end.

    “Ashraf Sahib struggled all his life. A Jamaat ideologue. When I was 19, I bumped into him and he told me tell your father – kitney haseen hain terey lab ki galiyan dekey bemaza na hua. May Allah grant him Jannat,” Lone tweeted.

    “This is the irony of Kashmiri politics. Top-quality politicians consumed by the conflict. The ideological versatility of Kashmir politics is a curse. A transparently honest politician spent decades in jail,” he further tweeted.