Jammu: Shamas Udin Malik, the father of detained AAP MLA Mehraj Malik, was briefly hospitalised here on Thursday due to weakness and stress following his son’s detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
After he was released from the hospital, Shamas Udin Malik apologised for the language used by his son for the Deputy Commissioner and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha to facilitate his release by scrapping the charges against him under the stringent PSA.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders rushed Shamas Udin Malik for a medical check-up after he collapsed at his Gandhinagar accommodation due to weakness caused by stress following his son’s detention. After the brief medical examination, he addressed the media at an AAP function.
“He was exhausted due to days of long travel. He is stressed and has been ailing for the last few days. We rushed him to a hospital as he collapsed”, Aayan Malik, a member of the family, said.
Talking to reporters here, Shamas Udin Malik said, “I apologise to all of you. Whatever he (Mehraj Malik) has done, I apologise for that. If he has any connection with any party, I apologise for that as well. I request you to release my son.”
Seeking withdrawal of the PSA charges against his son, he said, “The government here under the LG sahib and also in Delhi, they can return my son. I want nothing else, I only want my son back, released.”
He said he is yet to speak to his son but apologised for his language if it has hurt anyone.
“For the words he has used, I apologise for those,” he said, replying to questions about his son’s alleged abusive remarks against the deputy commissioner and his family.
Asserting his efforts to reach out to the LG, Shamas Udin Malik said, “I also went to meet LG sahib, but they did not allow me to meet him. However, I met CM sahib. I have full trust that LG sahib and Modi sahib will definitely do justice with us and bring him back.”
“We humbly urge the prime minister and the LG to release him and reunite our family,” he added.
Shamas Udin Malik said his son is the “voice of the poor”, neither a thief nor a goon, contrary to how some people describe him.
“If they say he should not work, then we will not let him work, but kindly bring him back. I am going door to door seeking his release. I have been sick for four days, yet I am going everywhere and asking for my son’s release. I was even hospitalised,” he said.
The father of the MLA said he had sent his son to the deputy commissioner so that he could apologise, but he was arrested on the spot.
