70-year-old Hurriyat activist detained under PSA dies

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A popular pro-freedom activist, 70-year-old Ghulam Hassan Malik, better known as Noor Khan, died on Tuesday at Government Medical College in Jammu a day after he was shifted to the hospital from Kot Bhalwal Jail.

Ghulam Hassan Malik, a resident of Uri area of Baramulla district, was arrested by the Indian police on January 22 and was booked under draconian law, Public Safety Act (PSA), on January 27 after which he was shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu, Kashmir Media Service reported.

Ghulam Hassan fell ill in the jail a few days ago. On Monday, he complained of serious pain in his chest and was shifted to the GMC Jammu. He breathed his last there on Tuesday afternoon.

Ghulam Hassan Malik’s son, Irshad Ahmad Malik talking to media men said that his father was called to police station Baramulla on January 20 this year, was formally arrested two days later and was booked under the PSA on January 27. He said that his father was first imprisoned at Central Jail Srinagar, from where he was shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail in a fake case registered against him by the Indian police.

Irshad Ahmed Malik demanded an inquiry into the false charges slapped on his father by the police and into the circumstances in which he fell ill and died.