Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai today reiterated his concern over the plight of Kashmir political prisoners, lodged in different jails in and outside the Valley and demanded their immediate release.
“We call on the authorities to release all political prisoners and stop arbitrary detention of political leaders, activists and independent thinkers who criticize and demand their fundamental and political birth right,” Sehrai said in a statement.
He said, “Majority of Kashmiri prisoners have been shifted from Kashmir to various outside prisons in brazen violation of the Geneva convention and also Supreme Court verdict that emphasize on keeping the prisoners in prisons closer to their homes.”
“We question the silence of human rights organizations across the globe and in India that stand for upholding the rights of prisoners especially those that are in prisons for their political beliefs as the political prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir,” Sehrai said.
He said, “The government has to understand that the prisoners lodged in the jails are also like other people living outside the prison. Therefore, just like those people, prisoners are also entitled to all the rights enshrined in different laws within the limits of prison and these rights should not be denied to them just because they are inside the protected walls,” he said.
“There are many Kashmiris who have been rotting in jails in Kashmir as well as outside Kashmir over several years, some without trial which includes an overwhelming majority of prisoners who are denied a fair chance to defend themselves in the court,” he added.