Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government has shifted incarcerated pro-freedom leaders Dr Muhammad Qasim Faktoo and Dr Mohammad Shafi Shariati, from Central jail Srinagar to jails out of the valley.
The shifting of the said jailed leaders was undertaken after the Home Department of J&K issued formal orders in this regard, official sources said. They said that Faktoo, the ameer (Chief) of Muslim Deeni Mahaz, was shifted to district jail Udhampur while Shariati to sub-jail Hiranagar in Kathua district. Confirming the shifting of Qasim and Shariati, the wife of Qasim and the woman pro-freedom leader, Aasia Andrabi, told KR that Qasim was seriously ill at the time of shifting. Faktoo recently completed 25 years of his imprisonment while as Shariati was arrested in 2011.
The author of many books Qasim, completed his PhD during his imprisonment. Shariati also has written more than two books. Qasim and Shariati were shifted to jails outside the valley after a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant Abu Hanzala, arrested in 2014 escaped from SMHS hospital where he had been taken for a checkup on 6 February. (KR)