Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday offered “sincere apology” to the family of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranje who succumbed to injuries in Chandigarh while a top separatist leader asked the people to offer funeral prayers in absentia after mid-day congregational prayers on Friday to pay homage to Ranje.
“Although it’s scant consolation, I’d like to offer a sincere apology to the family of Sanaullah and my sympathies for their loss,” Omar wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Abdullah, who is also the Home Minister of J&K, was under criticism for failing to provide security to Pakistani prisoners in the aftermath of Sarabjit Singh’s brutal killing by jail inmates in lahore’s Kot lakhpat jail.
Sanaullah was attacked by an inmate, Vinod Kumar, at Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail, a day after Sarabjit Singh’s death. The two attacks had stark similarities even as it is not yet established that attack on Sanaullah was revenge. The Jammu & Kashmir Government has suspended two jail officials before ordering an inquiry into the incident.
52-year-old Sanaullah was languishing in J&K jails since 1994 when he was captured in Kashmir Valley for his involvement in anti-India insurgency. He was serving life term. last May 3, hours before Sarabjit Singh was given a State funeral in his native village in Punjab, Vinod Kumar attacked Ranje’s head with a pickaxe. He was taken to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu in a critical state and later shifted to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh where he died on Thursday morning.
The Supreme Court also rapped the J&K Government for failing to secure Pakistani prisoners after the Sarabjit’s death. “We understand that in such cases, passions run wild but the State as the law enforcement agency must ensure that these things don’t happen. Our rule of law is very strong...Such an incident can’t be accepted by our law,” the bench of Justices RM ludha and Kurien Joseph observed a day before Ranje’s death.
“While the inquiry will fix responsibility for any dereliction of duty, the fact that this happening at all is a matter of great regret,” Omar said.
Meanwhile, senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked the people in Kashmir to offer funeral prayers in absentia after Friday congregational prayers to pay homage to Ranje.