SRINAGAR: Kashmir’s octogenarian separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to protest against what he called ‘brutal killing’ of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq Ranjay.
Geelani, a pro-Pakistan leader who heads the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference, has also asked people to offer funeral prayer in absentia for Haq after Friday prayers.
Haq was lodged in the Kot Bhalwal central jail in Jammu region for allegedly planting bombs at various places in the state.
He died this morning at a Chandigarh hospital where he was being treated for critical injuries. A fellow inmate, reportedly a former Indian soldier, had attacked him.
In what is seen as an apparent revenge, the attack on Haq came a day after the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who was attacked in a Pakistani prison.
Geelani, in a statement, termed the attack on Sanaullah as “pre planned, politically motivated and an act of reprisal”.
The statement also referred to him as a “Shaheed” or a martyr.
The separatist leader also expressed his concern and apprehensions with respect to safety of Kashmiri prisoners in Indian jails in the aftermath of the attacks on prisoner.
He has demanded that all the Kashmiri detainees be shifted to the valley.
