National Conference on Wednesday alleged that the government’s delay in filing the response to party General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar’s detention under the Public Safety Act in the High Court was “deliberate.”
In a statement, the party spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar expressed dismay over the lackadaisical approach of J&K administration in filing their response to the PIL challenging detention of Sagar.
“It’s really unfortunate that government has for the third time asked for more time to file a response to the PIL in the High Court today. It seems that the government is deliberately delaying to file a response in the case,” he said.
Imran said the first hearing in the case was on April 3 and since then two more hearings were conducted.
“Intriguingly on all the occasions, the government sought more time to file its response,” he said adding, “What is taking government so long to frame a response in this case? There is no justification for this continued incarceration,” he said.
Expressing concern over the plight of Sagar and other detainees arrested after August 5 last year, Imran said fate of scores of incarcerated political leaders, civil society members and others hang in balance due to insensitivity and complacency of the government.
“We were hopeful of a positive outcome in the court today but to our dismay that didn’t happen. When governments around the world are releasing detainees on the account of dangers posed by COVID19, J&K administration has regrettably chosen not to give any benefit to the incarcerated politicians and scores of other activists,” he said.
Imran also demanded immediate release of party functionaries including Nasir Aslam Wani, AR Rather, Chowdhary Ramzaan, Muhammad Shafi Uri, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, Shameema Firdous, Hilal Lone, Ali Muhammad Dar, Bashir Ahmad Veeri, Irfan Shah, Aga Syed Mehmood, Abdul Majeed Larmi and others who continue to be under detention.