Hurriyat Conference (M) Monday expressed serious concern over the plight of Kashmiri political prisoners lodged in various prisons including Tihar, Kahtua, Udhampur, Kotbalwal and Central Jail Srinagar stating that the ill treatment meted out to Kashmiri prisoners stands as an eye-opener for the world community, especially international organisations fighting for prisoners’ rights.
In a statement here, a spokesman of Hurriyat (M) said that in the Tihar Jail Delhi, where prisoners that include leaders, Shabir Ahmed Shah, advocate Shahidul Islam, Altaf Ahmed Fantosh, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehraj ud din Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar, businessman Zahoor Watali and female leaders Asiya Andrabi, her two aides, Fehmeda Sofi and Nashid Nasreen are lodged and all of them are facing “enormous hardships, which is a great cause of worry.”
He alleged, “All the leaders who were arrested last year were farmed under fake cases and they have been kept under illegal custody since then as the investigating agency has failed to prove their involvement in any crime other than standing for their political rights.
“It may be recalled that on September 13, the two bench judge of High Court, that include Justice S Murlidhar and Justice Venu Goyal had stated that agency had no concrete evidence against the involvement of leaders in any of the criminal activities,” the statement said. “The bench had cleared that in absence of any evidence against the arrested leaders trial can be run against them under section 120, 121 of IPC (waging criminal conspiracy). The bench had also termed the imposition of UAPA on the Hurriyat Conference and its all constituents stating that none of the constituents of the Hurriyat is banned.”
Meanwhile, the spokesman paid rich tributes to six armed youth killed in Aripal, Tral and Tangdhar, Kupwara encounters stating that these sacrifices are great assets for the Kashmiri people who are committed to take their mission to its logical end. “We strongly condemned the brutal use of force on the peaceful protestors at Aripal, Tral,” the spokesman said.