SRINAGAR — Jailed separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah’s daughter, Saima Shabir, and former Hurriyat (G) Chairman Syed Ali Geelani’s granddaughter, Ruwa Shah, have publicly distanced themselves from separatist ideology. Both have pledged allegiance to the sovereignty of the Union of India.
Both have issued public notices in local newspapers wherein they expressed their disloyalty towards separatist politics.
Ruwa Shah, the daughter of Geelani’s son-in-law, Altaf Ahmad Shah, who was also known as Altaf Fantoosh, issued a public notice, distancing herself from the Hurriyat Conference faction founded by her late grandfather.
She declared that she had no inclination or sympathy towards the Hurriyat Conference ideology. “I am a loyal citizen of India, not affiliated with any organisation or association that has an agenda against the Union of India, and I owe allegiance to the constitution of my country,” Shah, a former journalist, said in the notice published in a local daily.
In a separate public notice published in a local newspaper on Thursday, 23-year-old Sama Shabir, a former CBSE topper in Kashmir, emphasised her status as a loyal Indian citizen and unequivocally distanced herself from the banned secessionist organisation founded by her father, who is currently in Tihar Jail on money laundering and terror funding charges.
“I am a loyal citizen of India and I am not affiliated with any person or organisation which is against the sovereignty of the Union of India,” Sama Shabir, the elder daughter of Shah, said in the notice.
“I am not associated with the DFP or its ideology in any way,” she said, cautioning that legal action would be pursued against anyone linking her to the secessionist group without authorisation.
Pertinently, Shabir Ahmad Shah, 70, was arrested in 2017 by the Enforcement Directorate over alleged money laundering activities linked to terror financing.
