Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik ends hunger strike: Jail official

Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik who was on hunger strike in Tihar Jail for the last 10 days discontinued his fasting on Monday evening after he was informed that his demands have been conveyed to the authorities concerned, prison officials said.

Malik began an indefinite hunger strike on July 22 after the Centre did not respond to his plea that he be allowed to physically appear in a Jammu court hearing the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case in which he is an accused.

The 56-year-old chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case.

He has deferred his hunger strike for two months at the request of the Director General (DG) of Delhi Prisons Sandeep Goel, the officials said.

The DG has conveyed to Malik that the demands raised by him have been sent to the authorities concerned and he will be informed of the decision on the same, said a senior jail official.

"On my request, convict Yasin Malik, who was on hunger strike in Tihar Jail since July 22 has today (Monday) evening, discontinued his fasting," Goel said.

Malik was admitted to the RML hospital here last month following a fluctuation in blood pressure, and after returning to the prison, he refused to eat anything.

The separatist leader, who is kept in solitary confinement in a high-risk cell in Tihar's prison number 7, was shifted to the prison's Medical Investigation (MI) room where he was being given IV fluids, the officials said.

Malik had submitted a letter to the doctors at the hospital, saying he did not want to be treated.