Former Jammu and Kashmir minister and senior People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Naeem Akhtar was found unconscious in a sub-jail room in Srinagar and was shifted to a hospital on Thursday. The family members of the 68-year-old politician accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of deliberate “harassment” against him.
Naeem Akhtar was found unconscious around midnight on Thursday and his family says they weren’t even informed by the administration when the incident happened.
“He was unconscious for about 40 minutes. Anything could have happened to him. He is an old man with health conditions. Any doctor will tell them how dangerous it is to keep such a person who has a heart-related condition in confinement like that. A senior police officer was kind enough to inform me around midnight that my father was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully the fellow detainees sounded an alarm after seeing him unconscious," said Shehryar Khanum, Akhtar’s daughter.
Atleast a senior police officer had the courtesy to inform me around midnight that my father @shangpal in detention was in hospital after he was unconscious for 40 mins. Saved by a whisker - some days back all alone in the whole building. Grateful to his fellow detenues. Prayers!
— Shehryar Khanum (@shehryar_khanum) January 14, 2021
She also accused the administration of maltreatment towards her father. “This seems to be deliberate. He is not a convict. He is a politician. What crime are they holding against them? There wasn’t a single doctor available for him in the sub-jail," said Shehryar Khanum.
Every doctor with degree and experience that I spoke to about my father’s condition is baffled at the need to keep a 68 year old man with acute cardiac history in sub zero temperatures in a place that is not home. https://t.co/mf1clxgKXl
— Shehryar Khanum (@shehryar_khanum) January 14, 2021
Family sources said he is currently being treated at the Khyber hospital. He condition is reported to be stable and medical investigations are being carried out.
Senior leader Naeem Akhtar is a close aide of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. He was first detained in August 2019 and later booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), and released in June last year after 10 months of detention. He was again arrested in December last year just ahead of counting of votes for the District Development Council and lodged in a government building declared as a sub-jail.