Kashmiri Separatist Yasin Malik was admitted to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Tuesday evening on 26 July, four days since he began a hunger strike in Delhi's Tihar Jail, after doctors noticed fluctuations in his blood pressure.
Malik stopped eating food on 22 July after he alleged improper investigation into his case and was put on Intravenous (IV) fluids.
Malik is currently serving two life sentences along with other varying jail terms under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) and was sentenced by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Delhi earlier in 2022.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Senior jail officials said that Malik refused to eat on Friday and declared an indefinite hunger strike.
A senior official, speaking to The Indian Express said:
“Initially, the jail officials met with him and tried to convince him to end his strike, but he refused. From July 24, he was on intravenous fluid or glucose, but the doctors found that there was some fluctuation in his blood pressure. They later took him to RML hospital where they have admitted him for further treatment.”
Malik's sister Abida said while addressing the press in Srinagar that she had received a will from the former chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) after she met him in prison last week.
In the will, Malik reiterated that he had perceived non-violent struggle as a "powerful force."
"For me, the challenge has always been to find creative ways of carving out non-violent struggle in the face of violent state oppression, violence fixated news media. Therefore, having complete faith in the non-violent institution, I have decided to go in the fasting to death from 22 July 2022," his will read.
His sister also said that she and her mother had tried convincing the 56-year-old to not go through with the hunger strike, but he refused.
"He (Malik) said this is his last resort and called it a farewell," Abida added.
This comes only a few days after Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the late Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, identified Malik as one of the people who had kidnapped her in 1989.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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